The prediction of net harmonic currents produced by large numbers of residential PV inverters: Sydney Olympic Village case study

This paper presents a new method for predicting the net harmonic currents produced by a large number of residential PV inverters. The simple experimental based models of a PV inverter, which have been installed at the Sydney Olympic Village, are described. The effect of background harmonic voltages, input current from PV arrays and also randomness in individual inverter´s harmonic performances are taken into account. The model allows for harmonic cancellation due to diversity of magnitudes and phase angles. The study includes the harmonic measurement, data analysis, statistical analysis, mathematical modeling technique and simulations. The results of measurement from the Sydney Olympic Village and UNSW laboratory are compared to the simulation to confirm the accuracy of the models. Those results also show that harmonic voltages at the Olympic Village are far below both the IEEE 519-1992 and Australian Standard limits even after the operation of all PV inverter systems in the solar village (1.9%), and ready for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games