Impedance measurement of megawatt-level renewable energy inverters using grid-forming and grid-parallel converters

Abstract

Harmonic resonance and power quality problems have been reported in grid-connected photovoltaic and wind power systems. The AC-side impedance of three-phase converter is an important characteristic, which can be effectively used as a design parameter to avoid instability and excessive harmonics. A number of methods to measure the three-phase AC impedance have been reported. However, solutions for high power applications such as wind and photovoltaic converters with a power rating of several megawatts, have not been discussed. This paper introduces a new method to measure the impedance from high power three-phase converter. The impedance is identified by perturbing the converter first by voltage-type injection utilizing high-power grid-forming inverter, and subsequently by current-type injection by utilizing low-power grid-parallel converter. The main benefit of the proposed setup is the possibility to measure the converter impedance online in its natural operating point both at high and low frequencies. The paper presents a proof-of-concept by validating the method using a switching model.