Avoiding overvoltage problems in three-phase distributed-generation systems during unbalanced voltage sags

This paper is a postprint of a paper submitted to and accepted for publication in IET Power Electronics and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. The copy of record is available at the IET Digital Library. During voltage sags, distributed generation systems must fulfil specific grid-code requirements for reactive current injection. This ancillary service can produce overvoltage problems in networks operating in unbalanced conditions when the amplitude of one of the phase voltages is higher than the others and a balanced reactive current is injected through large grid impedance. This study proposes a control scheme to avoid these overvoltage problems, thus reducing the risk of cascade disconnection that this incident may produce. The derivation of the control scheme starts from the flexible oscillating-power control, introduces the necessary modifications so that this control meets the grid-code requirements for current injection and combines it with a slope voltage control to achieve a good voltage regulation. A theoretical analysis is included to determine the expressions that quantify the voltage support characteristics of the proposal. Finally, selected experimental results are reported to validate the characteristics of the proposed control.