Generic photovoltaic system emulator based on Lambert ω function

This paper describes the development of a generic model suitable for emulating photovoltaic (PV) system characteristics, to study its impacts on the performance power networks. Owing to rising greenhouse gas emissions and over-exploitation of fossil fuel, solar energy is emerging as a free, alternative power source attracting political and commercial interest. Nonetheless, if such high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) generation is connected to the electricity network, its effects on the security of the power grid must be carefully considered. The research aim was to design a PV system emulator to enable appropriate power system analyses to be conducted, keeping a balance between electrical supply and demand so that the power network stays within reliable and statutory operating conditions of voltage and frequency. Through this paper, jointly written by Conti with Jiang (whose PhD was co-supervised by Conti) and Putrus, a thorough description and validation of the proposed research was provided through a mathematical model which was implemented and tested in lab simulations using MATLAB/Simulink Software. In this emulator, a novel maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control method based on Lambert ω function is introduced. This method overcomes the drawbacks of conventional MPPT control methods by removing the oscillation and reducing response time. The proposed model can emulate any PV panel’s characteristics according to their specifications and may be implemented more easily than other models of PV systems. It does not require modelling of controllable power electronics converters, unlike other types of grid-connected MPPT model. This improves the PV generation performance at low solar irradiance, and indicates that future PV generation can be optimised and become a more widespread renewable energy source.