Enhancement of Reactive Power Capacity of a PV Grid in Smart Grid Applications

In the distributed generation environment, existing standards impose limits on the allowable feeder voltage variation. These stipulations must limit the power penetration level. In order to improve the voltage profile, a possible solution is to provide the reactive power support. This work proposes an auxiliary circuit in conjunction with the PV grid system, increases the reactive power compensation capacity. In spite of using the conventional discrete form of capacitor/inductor bank, the entire VAR range can be controlled. This enables the mitigation of large voltage variation on the feeder and this, in turn, increased PV penetration into the power system. The modelling, analysis and control design along with MATLAB Simulink results are discussed.