White Paper

Grid-Friendly
Utility-Scale PV Plants
Mahesh Morjaria & Dmitriy Anichkov, First Solar, Tempe, Arizona, USA

13 August 2013

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Table of Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Power Plant Controller Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Dynamic Voltage Regulation Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Active Power Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Frequency Droop Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Fault Ride-Through Capability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Grid-Friendly PV Plants Are Operational Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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Utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants that support grid stability and reliability
are becoming available as PV generation grows to the point of making a significant
contribution to the grid, and grid-friendly features are clearly needed. Examples
are voltage regulation, active power control, ramp-rate control, fault ride-through,
frequency control and others. A plant-level control system which controls a large
number (in hundreds) of individual inverters to affect plant output at the grid
connection point is a key enabler.

Introduction

Grid-friendly
PV plants help
stabilize the grid
by incorporating
voltage regulation,
fault-ride though,
reactive and real
power control,
and frequency
response.

A typical PV solar generation plant is composed of multiple individual generators

connected to the electrical network via power electronics (inverters). Through
sophisticated control functions, the PV plant can contribute actively to grid stability and
reliability and operate effectively in the grid.
A task force under the aegis of the North American Electrical Reliability Corporation
(NERC) has made several recommendations on specific requirements that such variable
generation plants must meet in order to provide their share of grid support. These
recommendations address grid requirements such as voltage control and regulation,
voltage and frequency fault ride-through, reactive and real power control and frequency
response criteria in the context of the technical characteristics and physical capabilities
of variable-generation equipment.
Below, we describe our concept of a grid-friendly PV plant that incorporates these
recommendations. The grid-friendly PV plant also includes the ability to ride through
specific low and high voltages or low- and high-frequency ranges. A number of plants
with these features are in operation and field data from First Solar-developed utilityscale PV plants are used to illustrate the concepts.

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Power Plant Controller Architecture

A key component is the plant-level controller. It is designed to regulate real and reactive
power output from the PV plant, such that it behaves as a single large generator. While
the plant is composed of individual small generators (or, more specifically, inverters), the
function of the plant controller is to coordinate the power output in order to provide
typical large power plant features such as active power control and voltage regulation
(through reactive power regulation).
The plant controller provides the following plant-level control functions:

The plant controller

implements plantlevel logic and
closed-loop control
schemes with realtime commands
to the inverters to
achieve fast and
reliable regulation.

Dynamic voltage and/or power factor regulation of the solar plant at the point
of interconnection (POI)

Real power output curtailment of the solar plant when required, so that it does
not exceed an operator-specified limit

Ramp-rate controls to ensure that the plant output does not ramp up or down
faster than a specified ramp-rate limit, to the extent possible

Frequency control to lower plant output in case of over-frequency situation or

increase plant output (if possible) in case of under-frequency

Start-up and shut-down control

The plant controller implements plant-level logic and closed-loop control schemes with
real-time commands to the inverters to achieve fast and reliable regulation. Typically
there is one controller per plant that is controlling the output at a single high-voltage
bus (referred to as POI). The commands to the plant controller can be provided through
the SCADA HMI or even through other interface equipment, such as a substation remote
terminal unit (RTU).

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Figure 1: 290MW PV Plant with Grid-Friendly Plant Controls

Figure 2 on the following page illustrates a block-diagram overview of the control system
and its interfaces to other devices in the plant. The power plant controller monitors
system-level measurements and determines the desired operating conditions of various
plant devices to meet the specified targets. It manages capacitor banks and/or reactor
banks, if present. It manages all the inverters in the plant, ensuring that they are
producing the real and reactive power necessary to meet the desired settings at the POI.
When the plant operator sends an active power curtailment command, the controller
calculates and distributes active power curtailment to individual inverters. In general, the
inverters can be throttled back only to a certain specified level of active power and not
any lower without causing the DC voltage to rise beyond its operating range. Therefore,
the plant controller dynamically stops and starts inverters as needed to manage the
specified active power output limit. It also uses the active power management function
to ensure that the plant output does not exceed the desired ramp rates, to the extent
possible. It cannot, however, always accommodate rapid reduction in irradiance due to
cloud cover.

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Figure 2: Plant Control System and Interfaces to Other Components

Substation

POI Measurements
POI Voltage,
Current & Frequency

Substation RTU

Set Points

Plant Controller

RTU Data

SCADA HMI
Set Points

HMI Data
Set Points (Power,
Voltage or PF)

Plant Network

PCS #1

Inverter Commands

PCS #n
DAS/PLC

Inverter #1

Legend

Inverter #2

DAS/PLC

Inverter #1

Inverter #2

DAS

Data Acquisition System

HMI

Human Machine Interface

PCS

Power Conversion Station

PLC

Programmable Logic Controller

POI

Point of Interconnection

RTU

Remote Terminal Unit

SCADA Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition System

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Dynamic Voltage Regulation Modes

Through the SCADA HMI, the plant control system can be set to operate in one of the
three modes of automatic voltage regulation (AVR): voltage-regulation, power-factor
regulation or reactive-power control. The three AVR modes are illustrated in the SCADA
HMI screen shown in Figure 3 below. Note that the plant can operate in only one of the
three operating modes at any time.

Figure 3: HMI Screen on AVR Modes

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In the voltage-regulation mode, the controller maintains the specified voltage set
point at the POI by regulating the reactive power that is produced by the inverters as
well as other devices such as capacitor banks. In the power-factor regulation mode,
the controller maintains the specified power factor. The operation of the controller is
illustrated in Figure 4 below, which shows field data from a PV plant producing about
212 MW of active power at that time.

Total VARs

-10

MVARs

1.000

Measured Power Factor

0.995

Commanded
Power Factor

-20

0.990

-30

Power Factor

10

0.985
-40
-50

0.980
-4

-2

10

Time in Seconds
Figure 4: Dynamic Power-Factor Regulation

The controller
commands the
inverters to change
their reactive power
output to meet the
new power factor
set point, using a
closed-loop control
mechanism.

The figure illustrates the response of the plant when the power factor set point is
changed from 0.98 to 1.0. The controller commands the inverters to change their
reactive power output to meet the new power factor set point, using a closed-loop
control mechanism. The figure illustrates that the inverters respond very rapidly.
Within a few seconds (< 4 s) the new set point is achieved in a closed-loop control
mode. More specifically, the rise time to reach 90 percent of steady-state value
shown above is about 3.2 s.

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Active Power Management

Through the SCADA HMI, the controller can also be set to control the active power
output of the plant. When the control system detects that the active power at POI
exceeds the specified set point, it calculates and sends the commands for each inverter
individually to lower its output to achieve the desired set point, using a closed-loop
control mechanism. In some cases the plant controller will turn off certain inverters to
achieve this desired set point, since output of each inverter cannot be lowered below a
certain threshold without causing a high DC voltage operating condition.

Figure 5: Active Power Curtailment HMI

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Figure 6 below illustrates field data from a PV plant operating at around 90 MW power.
The curtailment limit is initially changed from 100 MW to 82.5 MW. The plant controller
turns down the inverters (and turns off some of them if required) to achieve the new set
point. Note that the turndown of power is gradual to meet the specified ramp-rate limit.

100

100

95

95

Inverters are turned down/off

to curtail output

90

90

85

85

80

80

Ramp rates between

set point changes
are controlled

75

Power (MW)

Set Point (MW)

Power Curtailment at Different Levels

75

70

70
0

10

12

14

16

18

20

Time in Minutes
Figure 6: Power Curtailment at different levels

The controller
can minimize the
impact of cloud
cover by increasing
the output of other
inverters that are
not impacted.

The curtailment limit is reduced again to around 75 MW, and the controller responds as
expected. When the limit is raised, the controller adjusts the output of the inverters to
increase the total plant output. Finally, when the limit is raised to 100 MW, the plant is
no longer curtailed since the plant is producing less than the limit.
In all the control actions, the controllers command to each inverter is unique, given
the specific conditions each inverter is experiencing. In the case of curtailment due to
cloud passage, where the plant has additional generating capacity but is restrained to a
specified limit and curtailment is limited to part of the plant, the controller can minimize
the impact of cloud cover by increasing the output of other inverters that are not
impacted. This will result in increased energy yield as illustrated in Figure 7 on the
next page.

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Figure 7: Impact of Cloud Passage under Curtailment

An illustration of additional function related to active power management is shown

in Figure 8 below, which shows the reaction of the plant when it is shut down and
started up. In this example, the field data illustrates when one block (30 MW) that is
under control of the plant controller is commanded to shut down, the active power
management function reduces plant output while maintaining the required ramp rate.
As mentioned earlier, some inverters are turned down while others are shut down. Note
that the control is quite effective even with moderately varying irradiance conditions.

Stopping and Starting One Block (30MW)

90
Low
Irradiance

85
80

80
75
70

Inverters are
turned off in
sequence;
ramp rates
are controlled

65
60

70
65
60

Plant Start
Command

55
0

75

Inverters are
started in
sequence

Power (MW)

Commanded MW

85

90

Plant Stop
Command

55
8

10

Time in Minutes
Figure 8: Plant Shut-Down and Start-up Controls

Source: Agua Caliete PV Plant in Yuma, Arizona, USA

March 13, 2012. ~90MW on-line

The above figure also illustrates the plant start command that results in the controller
gradually increasing the plant output by adjusting the inverters output and turning on
the inverters in sequence.

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Frequency Droop Control

The control system also provides frequency droop control to handle unusual grid
situations1. For example, in case of above-normal frequency, the controller will reduce
the active power of the plant as illustrated in Figure 9 below. If the plant is under
curtailment, the power can also be increased if the below-normal frequency is detected.
Note that all the parameters illustrated in the figure are configurable and are shown here
for illustrative purposes only.

Figure 9: Frequency Droop Function

T his is in line with the recommendation Encourage or mandate reduction of active power in response to high frequencies
(Piwko & others, March 2012)
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Fault Ride-Through Capability

With proper design
practices, the PV
plant is engineered
to ensure that
all components
besides inverters
also have the
ability to ride
through short-term
grid events.

The ability to ride through specific low and high voltages or low- and high-frequency
ranges is being designed effectively into all modern variable generators. Most utilityscale inverters have this capability. With proper design practices, the PV plant is
engineered to ensure that all components besides inverters also have the ability to
ride through short-term grid events.

Grid-Friendly PV Plants
Are Operational Today
These grid-friendly
capabilities,
essential for
increased
penetration of
large-scale PV
plants into the
electric grid, are
operational and
available today
for utility-scale
PV plants ranging
from several
megawatts to
several hundred
megawatts.

We have described a utility-scale grid-friendly PV power plant that incorporates

advanced capabilities essential to supporting grid stability and reliability. It includes
features such as voltage regulation, active power controls, ramp-rate controls, fault ride
through, and frequency control. It also has the ability to minimize the impact of cloud
cover. These capabilities provide the intrinsic benefits of reliable plant operation in the
grid, which in turn results in additional plant yield and potential additional revenue.
These grid-friendly capabilities, essential for increased penetration of large-scale
PV plants into the electric grid, are operational and available today for utility-scale PV
plants ranging from several megawatts to several hundred megawatts. These advanced
plant features enable solar PV plants to behave more like conventional generators and
actively contribute to grid reliability and stability, providing significant value to utilities
and grid operators.

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Figure 10: First Solar Operations Center in Mesa, Arizona, USA

About the Authors

Mahesh Morjaria, VP, Product Management, First Solar, leads the development of First Solars grid integration
capability for utility scale PV plants. His academic credits include B.Tech from IIT Bombay and Ph.D. from Cornell
University in USA.
Dmitry Anichkov, Principal Engineer, Plant Controls, First Solar, is responsible for the development of the First Solar
Real-Time Plant Control System. Dmitriy holds a MS degree from St. Petersburg Polytechnic.

Inquiries
First Solar
Tel: Tel: 1-877-850-FSLR (3757)
Email: info@firstsolar.com

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