Performance Analysis of Multilevel Power Converters for Solar PV Power Conversion Systems

Abstract

newline The energy demand of the world is increasing rapidly and theconventional energy sources are exhausting faster. Solar energy conversionsystem is one of the alternative energy resources available to meet this rise indemand. The solar energy technology has undergone a dramatictransformation from the year 1990. In developing countries like India, theenergy demand will grow multiple-fold in the forth coming decade and solarenergy will be an attractive alternate to meet the major part of this demand.The two major types of solar energy conversion systems are solarthermal energy conversion system and solar Photo Voltaic (PV) energyconversion system. The solar photovoltaic energy conversion system convertssolar irradiance to electricity through photoelectric effect. When solarirradiance fluctuates, the electric power delivered from the solar PV unit will newlinealso fluctuate. So, in order to interface the solar PV unit with grid, powerelectronic interfacing circuits are necessary. These power electronics circuits newlinecomprises of a two stage power conversion system, i.e., a dc to dc converter newlineand a PWM inverter, to obtain necessary voltage at desired frequency for grid newlineintegration. The main focus of this research work is to design a suitable power newlineelectronic converter circuit to interface the solar PV unit to the grid with asuitable control scheme. newline