Transformerless grid-connected converter for PV plants with constant common mode voltage and arbitrary power factor

Many transformerless topologies for photovoltaic systems were proposed in order to minimize power losses and avoid high levels of ground leakage current (that can arise in such systems). The most efficient PWM strategies achieve this goal by decoupling the grid from the DC Link during the freewheeling phases of the output current. These strategies usually operate only with a unity power factor. However, as solar inverters have penetrated into power distribution networks, new issues have arisen and modifications of regulations governing grid connection of distributed systems were introduced in some countries. One of the new requirements for the inverters connected to the low-voltage grids is the possibility to provide reactive power. This paper proposes a transformerless inverter topology with a wide-range power factor operation. Simulation results and extensive experimental results, focused mainly on ground leakage current analysis, showed the effectiveness of the proposed solution.