Benchmarking of Voltage Sag Generators

The increased penetration of renewable energy systems, like photovoltaic and wind power systems, rises the concern about the power quality and stability of the utility grid. Some regulations for Low Voltage Ride-Through (LVRT) for medium voltage or high voltage applications, are coming into force to guide these grid-connected distributed power generation systems. In order to verify the response of such systems for voltage disturbance, mainly for evaluation of voltage sags/dips, a Voltage Sag Generator (VSG) is needed. This paper evaluates such sag test devices according to IEC 61000 in order to provide cheaper solutions to test against voltage sags. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the shunt impedance based VSG solution is the easiest and cheapest one for laboratory test applications. The back-to-back fully controlled converter based VSG is the most flexible solution for the system test under grid faults but also the most expensive one.