High voltage photovoltaic system implementing Si/SiC-based active neutral-point-clamped converter

This article proposes a power converter solution for 1.5 kV DC photovoltaic applications and benchmark the benefits of commercially available SiC MOSFETS for the system power efficiency. The circuit solution is based on a full power factor three-level active neutral-point-clamped converter featuring reduced numbers of high-frequency switched semiconductors. A combination of Si IGBT and SiC MOSFET is selected for the converter implementation because of the tradeoff between system cost and power efficiency. Finally, the advantages of the proposed converter is verified by the analysis of a 200 kVA power generation system employing this solution and other conventional two- and three-level voltage source converters.