Modeling and simulation of single phase five level inverter fed from renewable energy sources

In the current global energy scenario, importance of power generation from renewable energy sources is increasing day by day. The major reasons for this are limited availability of fossil fuels and environmental hazards associated with traditional power generation methods. Out of the various grid connected renewable energy systems, solar photo-voltaic and wind energy systems are most popular. This paper presents a new system architecture for hybrid photovoltaic and wind energy system connected to the grid. This method allows these renewable energy sources to deliver the load together or independently depending upon their availability. The proposed configuration uses a modified five-level inverter topology for converting DC voltage generated from renewable energy sources to AC voltage at 50Hz. The usage of five-level inverter reduces Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) in output voltage and helps in eliminating bulk filters required at the output side. Simulation study of the suggested system is carried out with MATLAB Simulink and simulation results are provided.