Power Quality Consideration for Off-Grid Renewable Energy Systems

Mojgan Hojabri, Arash Toudeshki

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, Malaysia.
Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Pekan, Malaysia.

DOI: 10.4236/epe.2013.55039                

Abstract

Necessity of electricity access in remote area is the main reason for expanding decentralized energy system such as stand-alone power systems. The best electrical power supply must provide a constant magnitude and frequency voltage. Therefore, good power quality is an important factor for the reliable operation of electrical loads in a power system. However, the current drawn by most of electronic devices and non-linear loads are non-sinusoidal, which can result in a poor power quality, especially in off-grid power systems. Poor power quality is characterized by electrical disturbances such as transients, sags, swells, harmonics and even interruptions in the power supply. Off-grid power systems worldwide often struggle with system failures and equipment damage due to poor power quality. In this paper, MAT- LAB/Simulink is used to model and analyses power quality in an off-grid renewable energy system. The results show high voltage transient when the inductive loads were switched OFF. The voltage and current harmonics are also determined and compared for various types of loads.

Keywords

Off-Grid Renewable Energy System; Power Quality; Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Inverters; Total Harmonic Distortion; Total Demand Distortion

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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