Two-stage PV inverter system emulator in converter based power grid emulation system

This paper proposes a method of modeling and emulation of a two-stage photovoltaic (PV) inverter system by using a single power converter. The PV emulator is intended to be used in a converter-based power grid emulation system - Hardware Test-bed (HTB), in order to investigate the influence of solar energy sources on the power grid. Both physical components and control strategies of the two-stage PV inverter system are modeled in the converter controller, which enables the emulator to represent the behaviors of the two-stage PV inverter system accurately. The performance of the two-stage PV inverter system emulator in both the MPPT mode and the reserved power control mode under variable solar irradiance circumstances is illustrated by both simulation and experiments in the HTB environment, which verifies the effectiveness of the emulation.