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Anti-Islanding and Smart Grid Protection

By Stephen Evanczuk

Contributed By Electronic Products

2015-06-25

Anti-islanding protection is essential to ensure that grid-tied energy harvesting

systems cut their connection to the grid when the grid itself loses power. Yet,
the identification of power loss in the grid can be challenging, requiring an
approach able to find the right balance between sensitivity to normal
fluctuations in the grid and responsiveness to grid power failure. Engineers
building grid-tied inverters can implement reliable anti-islanding protection by
taking advantage of a combination of key design methods and available components
from manufacturers including Analog Devices, Freescale Semiconductor, Microchip
Technology, ON Semiconductor, TE Connectivity, and Texas Instruments, among
others.

Small-scale energy harvesting can supply substantial levels of powerenough to

satisfy an individual buildings needs and still feed excess power back to the
grid for credit. With this type of distributed generation of power, however, loss
of power in the grid can create a hazardous situation when a solar array or wind
turbine, for example, continues to supply power. In this situation, the
energy-harvesting system becomes an island of power feeding into the unpowered
grid. Anti-islanding protection provides mechanisms designed to prevent
occurrence of these power islands by breaking the connection between the energy
harvesting system and the grid when the grid goes dark.

Anti-islanding protection is so important that specific capabilities and

specifications for anti-islanding are required in the U.S. and other countries
with a developed power grid system. Not only does islanding place utility repair
crews at risk, active islands can complicate the process of restoring grid power.

Power loss detection

Determining when the grid has lost power can be a significant challenge in many
circumstances. On casual inspection of a typical grid-tied energy harvesting
system, the loss of power from the grid would seem to be quickly evident (Figure
1). In some cases, however, the local load can present characteristics that
result in only very small changes in active and reactive power when the grid
loses power. As a result, an inverter would not be able to detect the difference
and so would continue supplying power to the unpowered grid, resulting in an
islanding condition. On the other hand, an inverter that repeatedly disconnected
itself when the grid continued to provide power would reduce its amount of
returned powerand reduce opportunities for revenue for its owners.

Image of Microchip Technology grid-tied energy harvesting system

Figure 1: If grid power fails, the local load could mask any change in active or
reactive power detected by a microinverter, causing islanding, or the continued
flow of power into the grid from an energy harvesting source. (Courtesy of

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Microchip Technology)

The set of conditions under which an inverter cannot detect loss of power in the
grid is called a non-detection zone (NDZ). The goal of effective anti-islanding
methods is to reduce or ideally eliminate NDZs, using some form of feedback from
the grid. Conventional approaches for reducing NDZ typically rely on so-called
passive methods, where the inverter measures grid voltage or frequency. When the
measured characteristic falls below threshold values, the inverter determines
that an islanding condition exists and either shuts itself down entirely or
disconnects from the grid while continuing to power the local load.

The most common passive anti-islanding methods take advantage of a key mechanism
in inverters. In a typical inverter design, a digital power controller manages
the output voltage, often using a pulse-width modulator (PWM) to produce the
required AC waveform (Figure 2). By monitoring the grid-voltage waveform and
measuring its zero-crossing point, the inverter can initiate the onset of the
PWM-output cycle to produce an AC waveform that remains synchronized with the
grid.

Image of Silicon Laboratories anti-islanding methods

Figure 2: Anti-islanding methods focus on analyzing grid feedback within the

context of AC-waveform generation and synchronization with the grid. (Courtesy of
Silicon Laboratories)

To ensure synchronization, designers can combine a zero-crossing detector with a

phase-lock loop (PLL)-based controller to produce an AC-output waveform that
remains in phase with the grid waveform (Figure 3). Here, the waveform controller
produces a grid-synchronized waveform, using the PLL to ensure a tight match
between the output sine wave and the zero crossing point of the grid waveform.

Image of Texas Instruments passive anti-islanding detection

Figure 3: Passive anti-islanding detection can use grid-frequency monitoring

performed by a PLL-based controller implemented in hardware or in software as
shown in this example. (Courtesy of Texas Instruments)

For the zero-crossing detection functionality, engineers would use a simple

analog circuit built around an op amp. In fact, an effective zero-crossing
detection circuit requires only a general-purpose op amp such as the Microchip
Technology MCP6022, a transistor such as the ON Semiconductor BC817-16LT1G, and a
few additional passive components (Figure 4).

Image of Microchip Technology zero-crossing detector

Figure 4: A simple zero-crossing detector requires only an op amp, transistor,

and a few passive components to provide a zero-crossing detection signal to
directly control logic or to drive the GPIO pin of an MCU that executes control
routines. (Courtesy of Microchip Technology)

By looking for deviations in zero-crossing, frequency, or voltage of the grid

waveform, an anti-islanding inverter can detect loss of power in the grid and
disconnect itself from the grid when islanding occurs. In such a case, the relay

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needs to be opened quickly when islanding is detected (or when the inverter
otherwise enters a fault condition).

International standards specify that the relay circuit that breaks the connection
with the grid must have a contact gap at least 1.5 mm at each pole, requiring use
of a device such as the TE Connectivity PCFN solar relay, which offers a contact
gap greater than 1.8 mm. In a typical anti-islanding inverter design, an MCU
generates the relay enable/disable signal, which is in turn buffered by a relay
driver (Figure 5).

Flexible anti-islanding

Designers typically opt for firmware-based inverter designs using integrated

processors such as the Freescale Semiconductor MC56F8257, Microchip Technology
dsPIC33FJ16GS504, and Texas Instruments TMS320F2802 Piccolo MCU from TIs C2000
C28x Piccolo family. Aside from the advantages for code enhancements for designs
already in the field, software-based anti-islanding enables deployment of more
sophisticated detection schemes.

Image of Freescale Semiconductor MC56F8257 inverter design

Figure 5: In inverter designs, advanced processors such as the Freescale

MC56F8257 allow implementation of sophisticated software-based anti-islanding
schemes and direct control of the critical relay needed to break the connection
to the grid when islanding is detected. (Courtesy of Freescale Semiconductor)

For microinverters with integrated battery management, the design becomes

correspondingly more complicated (Figure 6). Nevertheless, the same principles of
anti-islanding management apply. In this type of inverter design, a DSP such as
the Analog Devices Blackfin ADSP-BF50x provides the performance and functionality
required to support the more complex mix of requirements while executing
anti-islanding control routines. Here, Analogs AD7280, AD8280, and ADuC703x
Li-ion cell management ICs offload cell charging and string balancing from the
DSP, which is digitally isolated using ADuM140 ICs.

Image of Analog Devices ADSP-BF50 DSP

Figure 6: In more complex energy harvesting systems with strings of Li-ion cells
for backup power, a DSP such as the Analog Devices ADSP-BF50 can manage
energy-harvesting and battery management while executing anti-islanding
mechanisms. (Courtesy of Analog Devices)

The use of MCUs and DSPs is essential for implementing active anti-islanding
methods. While passive methods simply monitor grid voltage and frequency, active
methods inject small disturbances into the grid to determine if the grid is still
connected and providing stable power. For example, the Sandia Frequency Shift
method purposely introduces a small deviation in the phase angle in an output
waveform and looks for any change in grid frequency in the next cycle. With an
active, powered grid, grid frequency will be unaffected. Active methods can
typically offer a much greater reduction in NDZ than possible with passive
methods, but remain an active area of research in the industry.

Conclusion

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Anti-islanding is essential for safe, reliable performance of grid-tied inverters

and remains a statutory requirement in countries with advanced power grids. In
many cases, however, determining when islanding occurs can be challenging,
creating a hazard when a connected inverter feeds into an unpowered grid or
resulting in loss of revenue when an inverter unnecessarily disconnects from an
active grid. For engineers, implementing anti-islanding schemes can build on
common methods used for grid synchronization and take advantage of powerful
software-based methods using available MCUs and DSPs.

For more information about the parts discussed in this article, use the links
provided to access product pages on the Digi-Key website.

Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the various

authors and/or forum participants on this website do not necessarily reflect the
opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Digi-Key Corporation or official policies of
Digi-Key Corporation.

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