Efficient Integration of Renewable Energy to Smart Grid Power Systems

Published in: Megaprojects: Building Infrastructure by Fostering Engineering Collaboration, Efficient and Effective Integration and Innovative Planning: Proceedings of the 10th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology
Date of Conference: July 23-25, 2012
Location of Conference: Panama City, Panama
Authors: Ahmed Mohamed
Osama Mohammed
Gustavo Roig
Refereed Paper: #111

Abstract

In this paper, some of the aspects associated with the integration of renewable energy sources into smart grid power systems are investigated. The renewable energy sources under study include a photovoltaic (PV) source and a wind energy conversion system (WECS). The PV source yields a variable DC output voltage that is dependent on the solar irradiation and ambient temperature. Therefore, a power conditioning unit (PCU) is needed to integrate its energy to the power system and track its maximum power point (MPP). The power conditioning unit may be a controlled DC-DC boost conveter. The design and implementation of such converter is investigated in the paper. Moreover, wind generators yield an AC output voltage that has variable voltage magnitude and frequency. Hence, a complete WECS has to be developed to integrate this wind energy to the power system. The WECS involves an uncontrolled (diode) rectifier cascaded by a controlled DC-DC converter. Furthermore, the renewable energy system involves a battery storage system that in turns need a converter to control its charging/discharging process. The design and control of this converter will be presented in this paper as well. Simulation and experimental results are included to verify the ideas developed in this study.