Grid integration of single stage SPV-STATCOM using cascaded 7-level VSC

A multi-functional single-stage grid-tied solar photovoltaic (SPV) system with STATCOM (Static Compensator) capabilities using a cascaded three phase seven level voltage source converter (VSC) is presented in this paper. PS-PWM (Phase Shifted Pulse Width Modulation) technique with a low switching frequency (450 Hz) is used to operate the VSC. The proposed SPV-STATCOM system works in three modes i.e. in Mode-1, only active power is supplied to the grid; in Mode-2, both active and reactive powers are supplied to the grid and in Mode-3, only reactive power is supplied to the grid thereby utilizing the proposed system to its fullest capacity in 24 h of a day. To extract the maximum power from the SPV array, the incremental conductance maximum power point tracking scheme is utilized. To synchronize the SPV-STATCOM power to the grid and to maintain power factor close to unity, a decoupled current controller, feed-forward term and positive sequence detector dq phase locked loop (PSD-dqPLL) control approach are used. Lower switching losses, harmonic distortions, high output voltage and power are some of the advantages of using a single-stage 7-level cascaded H-bridges. The design and the control scheme performances in all modes are simulated in MATLAB and validated through real time hardware in loop (HIL) system.