Toward the Universal DC Distribution System

AbstractDue to an increasing number of power generation units and load devices operating with direct current (DC) at distribution level, there is a potential benefit of leading efforts toward building a DC distribution system. However, the implementation of DC distribution systems faces important challenges, including the market inertia of AC...

Grid capacity and efficiency enhancement by operating medium voltage AC cables as DC links with modular multilevel converters

It is anticipated that with the thrust towards use of clean energy resources such as electric vehicles, future distribution grids will face a steep increase in power demand, forcing the utility operators to invest in enhancing the power delivering capacity of the grid infrastructure. It is identified that the critical 5–20 km medium voltage (MV)...

Physical Integration of a Photovoltaic-Battery System: A Thermal Analysis

Solar-battery systems are still expensive, bulky, and space consuming. To tackle these issues, we propose a novel device that combines all the components of a solar-battery system in one device. This device might help reduce installation cost compared to the current solar-battery systems as well as provide a plug-and-play solution. However, this...

Characterization of Series Arcs in LVdc Microgrids

This paper provides an empirical study on series arc behavior in low voltage dc microgrids. The response of an R-L-C dc microgrid abstraction towards series arcs is studied experimentally for varying grid inductance, dc voltages, load capacitances and load currents. In order to account for the stochastic nature of arcs, experiments are...

Stability of DC Distribution Systems: An Algebraic Derivation

Instability caused by low inertia and constant power loads is a major challenge of DC distribution grids. Previous research uses oversimplified models or does not provide general rules for stability. Therefore, a comprehensive approach to analyze the stability of DC distribution systems is desired. This paper presents a method to algebraically...

Real Time Selective Detection of Experimentally Generated DC Series Arcs

Localization of series arc faults in dc microgrids is an important requirement to guarantee operational safety and uninterrupted power to end users. In the previous EPE-ECCE proceeding, a theoretical proof was provided for the selective series arc detection using a novel algorithm. In the current paper, the concept is validated by showcasing...

Comparison of PV-Battery Architectures for Residential Applications

The paper provides a comparison of four PV-battery architectures with dc and ac backbones, in terms of autarky, energy efficiency, battery size and reduction of annual electricity cost. The comparison is conducted based on the residential load and irradiation data from the Netherlands. The effect of different PV generation is also analyzed by...

Review of residential PV-storage architectures

This paper focuses on the most common PV-storage architectures that are designed for residential applications and that incorporate storage devices like batteries, hydrogen systems, supercapacitors, and flywheels. The main motivations and a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the architectures are presented. Moreover, some common...

Using dedicated EV charging areas to resolve grid violations caused by renewable energy generation

EV Charging is expected to be a significant load on the grid in the future. But they can also be a part of the solution to grid violations. As the amount of renewable energy generation increases, there is a large amount of power flowing in the reverse direction in the distribution network, which is undesirable. To reduce this, EVs can charge at...

From DC nano- and microgrids towards the universal DC distribution system - a plea to think further into the future

The traditional ac power system is challenged by the increased amount of distributed energy resources. Enormous changes and investments are necessary in order to achieve an ac smart grid capable of coping with the challenges introduced. In dc, solutions seem to be more straightforward since most of the distributed energy sources and most of the...

PV architectures for DC microgrids using buck or boost exclusive microconverters

DC microgrids can connect directly dc renewable energy sources with increasing amount of dc loads. In this paper it is looked for possible architectures for integrating PV panels into dc microgrids, by means of microconverter strings. Three topologies are considered, featuring only buck microconverters and only boost microconverters, since they...