BEE4223:POWER ELECTRONICS AND DRIVE SYSTEMS

ASSIGNMENT 1

a) In your opinion, why distribution generation (DG) based on renewable

energy source (RES) has become more popular now?

According to the article Distribution Generation:Definition, Benefits and Issues written

by G.Pepermans, J.Driesen, D.Haeseldonckx, R.Belmans and W.D’haeseleer in April 2005,
there are 5 major factors being mentioned by International Energy Agency that contribution to
the attraction of people towards distribution generation based on renewable energy source.
These 5 major factors are developments in distributed generation technologies, constraints on
the construction of new transmission lines, increased customer demand for highly reliable
electricity, the electricity market liberalisation and concerns about climate change.

From these 5 mentioned major factors, the authors of article Distribution

Generation:Definition, Benefits and Issues had further reduced into 2 major driving factor
which is electricity market liberalization and environmental concern. For electricity market
liberalization, there is the increased interest by electricity suppliers in distributed generation
because they see it as a tool that can help them to fill in niches in a liberalized market. In such
a market, customers will look for the electricity service best suited for them. Different
customers attach different weights to features of electricity supply, and distributed generation
technologies can help electricity suppliers to supply the type of electricity service they prefer.
In short, distributed generation allows players in the electricity sector to respond in a flexible
way to changing market conditions. In liberalized markets, it is important to adapt to the
changing economic environment in the most flexible way. Distributed generation
technologies in many cases provide this flexibility because of their small sizes and the short
construction lead times compared to most types of larger central power plants.

For environmental concern, at present, environmental policies or concerns are probably

the major driving force for the demand for distributed generation. Environmental regulations
force players in the electricity market to look for cleaner energy- and cost-efficient solutions.
Here, distributed generation can also play a role, as it allows optimising the energy
consumption of firms that have a large demand for both heat and electricity. Furthermore,
most government policies that aim to promote the use of renewables will also result in an
increased impact of distributed generation technologies, as renewables, except for large hydro,
have a decentralised nature.
b) Construct one grid-connected DG-RES based:

i. Draw a complete block diagram including the load and the necessary
passive components

ii. Discuss the function of each main block diagram

 Electric Utility Grid - delivering electricity from the source to the demand centres

 Step-Up Coupling Transformer - The design of this single three-phase coupling

transformer employs a delta-connected windings on its primary and a wye/star
connected windings with neutral wire on its secondary. The delta winding allows
third-harmonic currents to be effectively absorbed in the winding and prevents from
propagating them onto the power supply.

 Line Filter - In the same way, high frequency switching harmonics generated by the
PWM control of the VSI are attenuated by providing second-order low-pass sine wave
filters. Since there are two possibilities of fit ting the filters, i.e. placing them in the
primary and in the secondary of the coupling transformer, it is normally preferred the
first option because it reduces notably the harmonics contents in the transformer
windings, thus reducing losses as heat and avoiding its overrating.
  3-Phase 3-Level Voltage Source Inverter - The general concept of this multi-level
inverter is to synthesize a sinusoidal voltage from several levels of voltages. Thus, the
three-level structure attempts to address some restrictions of the standard two-level one
by providing the flexibility of an extra level in the output voltage, which can be
controlled in duration to vary the fundamental output voltage or to assist in the output
waveform construction.

 DC-DC Boost Converter - The intermediate DC-DC boost converter fitted between
the PV array and the inverter acts as an interface between the output DC voltage of the
PV modules and the DC link voltage at the input of the voltage source inverter.

 PV Array - Produces an output DC voltage with variable amplitude, an additional

conditioning circuit is required to meet the amplitude and frequency requirements of
the stiff utility AC grid and inject synchronized power into the grid

iii. Justify why power electronics is important in your design

Power electronics is important in the design of grid-controlled solar photovoltaic

system especially the use DC-DC Boost converter and 3-Phase 3-Level Voltage Source
Inverter.

The intermediate DC-DC boost converter fitted between the PV array and the
inverter acts as an interface between the output DC voltage of the PV modules and the
DC link voltage at the input of the voltage source inverter. The voltage of the PV array is
variable with unpredictable atmospheric factors, while the VSI DC bus voltage is
controlled to be kept constant at all load conditions. In this way, in order to deliver the
required output DC voltage to the VSI link, a standard unidirectional topology of a
DC-DC boost converter (also known as step-up converter or chopper) is employed. This
switching-mode power device contains basically two semiconductor switches (a rectifier
diode and a power transistor) and two energy storage devices (an inductor and a
smoothing capacitor) for producing an output DC voltage at a level greater than its input
DC voltage. The basic structure of the DC-DC boost converter, using an IGBT as the
main power switch, is shown in figure above.
 The converter produces a chopped output voltage through pulse-width modulation
(PWM) control techniques in order to control the average DC voltage relation between
its input and output. Thus, the chopper is capable of continuously matching the
characteristic of the PV system to the equivalent impedance presented by the DC bus of
the inverter. In this way, by varying the duty cycle of the DC-DC converter it is feasibly
to operate the PV system near the MPP at any atmospheric conditions and load.

The operation of the converter in the continuous (current) conduction mode (CCM),
i.e. with the current flowing continuously through the inductor during the entire
switching cycle, facilitates the development of the state-space model. The reason for this
is that only two switch states are possible during a switching cycle, namely, (i) the power
switch Tb is on and the diode Db is off, or (ii) Tb is off and Db is on. In steady-state CCM
operation and neglecting the parasitic components, the state-space equation that
describes the dynamics of the DC-DC boost converter is given by Eq. (21) [21].

 1 - Sdc  1 
IA  0 -
L [ IA ]   L
0  VA
s[ ] =     [ ] , E21
Vd  1  Sdc 1
0  Vd  0   Id
 C   C

where:

IA: Chopper input current, matching the PV array output current, in A

VA: Chopper input voltage, the same as the PV array output voltage, in V

Vd: Chopper output voltage, coinciding with the DC bus voltage, in V

Id: Chopper output current, in A

Sdc: Switching function of the boost converter

The switching function is a two-level waveform characterizing the signal that drives the
power switch Tb of the DC-DC boost converter, defined as follows:

0, for the switch Tb off

Sdc  ，E 22
1, for the switch Tb on

If the switching frequency of Tb is significantly higher than the natural frequencies of the
DC-DC boost converter, this discontinuous model can be approximated by a continuous
state-space averaged (SSA) model, where a new variable D is introduced. In the [0, 1]
subinterval, D is a continuous function and represents the duty cycle D of the DC-DC
converter. It is defined as the ratio of time during which the power switch Tb is turned-on to
the period of one complete switching cycle, TS. This variable is used for replacing the
switching function of the power converter in Eq. (21), yielding the following SSA expression:
  1- D  1 
IA  0 - 
L [ ] L
IA
0  VA
s[ ] =     [ ] , E23
Vd  1  D 1
0  Vd  0   Id
 C   C

The DC-DC converter produces a chopped output voltage for controlling the average DC
voltage relation between its input and output. In this way, it is significant to derive the
steady-state input-to-output conversion relationship of the boost converter in the CCM. Since
in steady-state conditions the inductor current variation during on and off times of the
switch Tb are essentially equal, and assuming a constant DC output voltage of the boost
converter, the voltage conversion relationship can be easily derived. To this aim, the
state-derivative vector in Eq. (23) is set to zero, yielding the following expression:

VA
Vd  ，E 24
1 D

In the same way, by assuming analogous considerations, the current conversion relationship
of the boost converter in the CCM is given by Eq. (25).

Id  1  DIA，E25

The voltage source inverter presented in figure above consists of a multi-level DC-AC
power inverter built with insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) technology. This
semiconductor device offers a cost-effective solution for distributed generation applications
since it has lower conduction and switching losses with reduced size than other switching
devices. Furthermore, as the power of the inverter is in the range of low to medium level for
the proposed application, it can be efficiently driven by sinusoidal pulse width modulation
(SPWM) techniques.

The VSI utilizes a diode-clamped multi-level (DCML) inverter topology, also commonly
called neutral point clamped (NPC), instead of a standard inverter structure with two levels
and six pulses. The three-level twelve-pulse VSI structure employed is very popular
especially in high power and medium voltage applications. Each one of the three-phase
outputs of the inverter shares a common DC bus voltage that has been divided into three
levels over two DC bus capacitors. The middle point of the two capacitors constitute the
neutral point of inverter and output voltages have three voltage states referring to this neutral
point. The general concept of this multi-level inverter is to synthesize a sinusoidal voltage
from several levels of voltages. Thus, the three-level structure attempts to address some
restrictions of the standard two-level one by providing the flexibility of an extra level in the
output voltage, which can be controlled in duration to vary the fundamental output voltage or
to assist in the output waveform construction. This extra feature allows generating a more
sinusoidal output voltage waveform than conventional structures without increasing the
switching frequency. In this way, the voltage stress on the switching devices is reduced and
the output harmonics distortion is minimized [19].

The connection of the inverter to the distribution network in the so-called point of
common coupling (PCC) is made by means of a typical step-up Δ-Y power transformer with
line sinusoidal filters. The design of this single three-phase coupling transformer employs a
delta-connected windings on its primary and a wye/star connected windings with neutral wire
on its secondary. The delta winding allows third-harmonic currents to be effectively absorbed
in the winding and prevents from propagating them onto the power supply. In the same way,
high frequency switching harmonics generated by the PWM control of the VSI are attenuated
by providing second-order low-pass sine wave filters. Since there are two possibilities of fit
ting the filters, i.e. placing them in the primary and in the secondary of the coupling
transformer, it is normally preferred the first option because it reduces notably the harmonics
contents in the transformer windings, thus reducing losses as heat and avoiding its overrating.

c) Give one example of the existing power plant generation in regards to (b)
with a brief summary of the plant.

Bhadla Solar Park is one of the largest solar parks in India which is spread over a total
area of 10,000 acres (40 km2) in Bhadla, Phalodi tehsil, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, India. The
park have a capacity of 2,255 MW. The park has witnessed one of the lowest bids for tariff of
Rs 2.44 per kWh, which is lowest for solar in India so far. In September 2018 Acme Solar
announced that it had commissioned India's cheapest solar power, 200 MW at Bhadla.

d) As an engineer who worked at the plant, discuss the ethical issues that you
may encounter at your workplace. Then, suggest an appropriate action to
overcome the issues.

As an engineer working at a power generation plant, it is very normal that we will come
across with various type of ethical issues. The ethical issue can emerge when there are
multiple choices for a person or organization to choose between alternatives that must be
evaluated as right or wrong. Deep thought and detailed planning are required in order to
decide from the best of the situations. In this assignment, we are going to discuss about the
ethical issue that we may encounter at workplace.

The First ethical issues that we are going to discuss this assignment is the cost
concerning daily operations, maintenance, new covering retrofits, upgrades and improvement
at power plant. It is true that government does invest on the projects and plans that is
constructed by the company but the investment made were barely enough to cover the whole
cost of the whole project. Therefore, employer would always cut down their allocation of cost
here and there to make sure that the projects can goes on. As an employer, it is normal that
they wanted the most profit out of their power plant by using the least amount of expenses on
the plant. As a results, some worker might get exploited on the job that they are doing. Some
unethical employer might use a low salary to hire the employer while making them to do the
3D works (Dirty, Dangerous and Demeaning). In terms of suggestion, campaign or workshop
should be held in order for all worker to be clear on the standard salary or benefits that they
should receive when they are doing their jobs. There should exist a department or a channel
where the employer can get information and complaint in case they are being discriminated
by their employers. Another ethical issue concerning cost is when expenses are needed for the
maintenance and upgrades of the power plants. As an engineer, our job is to keep the power
plants to operate in its best conditions but ethical issue emerges when the cost allocated for
the maintenance or upgradaes is not sufficient. As a result, some parts of the power plant
might not get proper maintenance until it is completely malfunction. What makes the problem
worst is the proposal that is proposed requires to be processed by several departments before
it is fully approved and this process usually takes an amount of time for a company. As a
result, the golden time for replacing or maintenance of part might pass and accident or
stopping of operations might happen depends on the significance of the parts of the plant. In
terms of suggestion, adequate maintenance should be done in a fixed period in order to make
sure the power plant can operate in its best condition at all time.

The next ethical issue that we are going to discuss is about the implementation of
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in power plant. A standard operating procedure (SOP) is
a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry
out complex routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output and
uniformity of performance. Some contractors or employees state that the implementation of
SOP is unnecessary and troublesome to them when they are doing their jobs. As a result,
workers often ignore the requirement and steps in SOP as they claimed that SOP slowed
down their work progress. As a suggestion, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) should be
written in a simple, easy to understand but at the same time effective ways. As an engineer,
we should always obey the Standard Operating Procedure by the company for the safety
purpose and also as a role model for all the workers in the power plant.

The next ethical that we are going to discuss is the environmental damage that power
plant brings to the environment. For instance, hydropower plant might seems bringing no
damage to the environment on the surface as it does not cause any air quality impact directly;
however, building and operating a hydroelectric reservoir can lead to several harmful impacts
on the environment. The building of hydroelectric reservoir requires many acres of lands and
this leads to the loss of habitats for lots of flora and fauna in the area. As a results, the chain
of ecosystem might get disrupted and lead to extinction. Hydroelectric reservoir also
influence the flow of rivers which can alter the ecosystem and brings negative impact to the
wildlife. The most negative impact of this giant among the renewables is the flooding of an
area. When the water stored within the dam is released all at once, it can cause the river
downstream to suddenly flood. This can result in the destruction of agricultural land, forest,
wildlife, and land. For example, the Dhauliganga hydroelectric station in India, in 2013, led to
unprecedented flash floods causing the complete submergence of the power house. As a
suggestion, the construction of new power plant should plan carefully in order to minimize
the destruction and damage to our environment.