EMTP BASED SIMULATOR FOR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS WITH DISTRIBUTED GENERATION

MESUT BARAN ISMAIL EL-MARAKABI North Carolina State University Raleigh NC 27695

ABSTRACT This paper summarizes the development

of a simulator that extends the capabilities of the conventional Electro Magnetic Transient Programs (EMTP) by incorporating new distributed generator and power electronics device models into the simulator. The paper shows that such simulator facilitates the study of new distribution systems with distributed generation especially the protection and control issues. The paper outlines the new building blocks developed to extend the capabilities of EMTP. These blocks consist of a generic fuel-cell model and a 3-ph dc/ac inverter that uses PWM technique. The paper shows the simulation of a distributed generator connected in parallel with the utility grid to supply a local load. Keywords Distributed Generation, Transient Analysis, Power electronics, Fuel cells

sinusoidal voltage and current at the ac side. A controller block is added to the inverter in order to facilitate the interface between the generator and the system. To facilitate the development of these models, the PSCAD/EMTP is used, mainly because EMTP simulate the basic power electronics devices, such as GTOs and IGBTs that are used in converters [3]. The modules developed are quite flexible, the user can change most of module parameters: fuel cell type, filters, switching schemes and control schemes. The paper illustrates the use of the simulator by simulating a distributed generator connected to a distribution system. The detailed simulation results are given to illustrate the feasibility and advantages of such a new system.

II. EMTP MODULES I. INTRODUCTION A. Fuel Cell Module

A fuel cell is basically an electrochemical device capable of directly converting chemical energy into electrical and thermal energy, without the need of a combustion process. Extensive research has been done for many years, and it is now beginning to be feasible for some types of fuel cells to be used as DG sources. There are four main fuel cell technologies [7], Phosphoric acid, Solid polymer, Molten Carbonate and Solid Oxide. This paper is interested in the Solid oxide technology. A generic fuel cell module has been adopted [5-6] to simulate the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC). Figure 1 shows the fuel cell block diagram as described in [5]. Distributed generation is becoming an area of growing interest. With different types and capacities of distributed generators (DG) available, different challenges appear when connected to the distribution network. DG impacts the safety, performance and reliability of Distribution networks [4]. Some types of DG such as fuel cells and Micro-turbine incorporate power electronic converters to convert DC to AC. The presence of such power electronic devices increase the need for EMTP type of studies [1-2] to better understand the impact of connecting DG systems to the distribution network on both the network and the customer. The flexible user interface of EMTP allows one to build components of a system and connect them together to simulate the system. Current EMTP is mainly geared towards transient analysis of conventional power systems. The paper outlines the new building blocks developed to extend the capabilities of EMTP. These blocks consist of: (i) A generic fuel cell model to represent the emerging fuel cell based generation technology. The model includes the fuel cell and the controller that controls the power output of the fuel cell. (ii) An inverter module for dc/ac conversion. The fuel cell type generators produce dc voltage and thus they need inverters for them to be connected to the utility ac supply. The inverter is a 3-phase dc/ac voltage source converter that uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to obtain a

BOP

NO2 NH2

Stack

Idc according to limits

Controller

Idc Current from FC terminal

Figure1: Fuel cell block diagram

The fuel cell consists of a stack, Balance Of Plant (BOP) and a controller. As indicated in figure 1, the controller checks if the Idc demanded by the load is within operating limits to avoid over heating or permanent damage to the unit. The two important limits are the utilization factor limit and the differential pressure limit. The controller output will be the demanded Idc if it is within limits; otherwise it will be the maximum or minimum permissible Idc. The BOP deals with the fuel and oxidation process. The BOP feeds the stack with values of oxygen NO2 and fuel NH2 needed to fulfill the Idc requirement. The stack performs fuel oxidation and delivers DC power. Figure 2 shows the stack and the BOP models as implemented in PSCAD.
current * 9.95e-7

P - controller: The control of the active power supplied by the DG is important if the DG is working in parallel with the utility grid. This requires the inverter controller functions to be extended to include the regulation of output active power P. A generic PI-controller module has been developed to control the output power of the DG unit. Figure 4 shows the inverter controller block diagram, where the P controller uses the active power Pactual and command power signal Pset to minimize the incoming error signals ep = Pset.- Pactual The PWM controller generates the corresponding firing pulses for the IGBTs that will yield the required P.

DC input
C + G 1 + sT P_O2 X *

AC output

Inverter circuit
F N/D D ln X ++ N * 0.0541 0.8792 Eo E * 0.0754

Oxygen

* 9.95e-7 * 19.9e-7

IGBTs firing pulses

Fuel

C + G 1 + sT G 1 + sT P_H2

G 384 *

P_H2o V N/D D N

1000.0

Figure 2: SOFC stack model elements in PSCAD

* 19.9e-7

PWM

P - Controller ep
_ +

B. Inverter module
The fuel cell needs to be connected to an inverter to convert its DC output voltage to AC. We developed a generic 3-phase inverter module (figure 3). The inverter module consists of IGBTs for switch realization and input & output filters for smoothing the output voltage. The IGBTs are controlled using Pulse Width Modulation technique (PWM); PWM compares 3 sinusoidal signals with a triangular wave to produce the correct firing pulses for the IGBTs. The inverter is controlled by changing the amplitude of the modulating triangular waveform. This will maintain a constant output voltage, even if the magnitude of the input DC voltage changes.
0.001 1.0E-005 D 0.02 0.1 1 comp1 D 3 comp2 D 5 comp3 2.66E-005 2.66E-005 4 6 2 2.66E-005 900.0 900.0 900.0

Pset

Pactual

Figure 4: Inverter controller block diagram

III. SYSTEM SIMULATION

The system simulated is a 480 volts industrial system, with a load and a distributed generator DG operating in parallel with the utility grid (figure 5). The load consists of a 3-phase load and an induction motor. The DG unit is a fuel cell module connected to a dc to ac power converter, the converter is then connected to a step-up transformer to produce the 480 volts. Figure 7 shows the system simulated in PSCAD. In this paper we will examine the response of the system to changes in active power set point Pset. The first simulation involved changing the set point Pset of the DG and assessing the controller performance. Figure 6 shows how the inverter controller is able to control the value of the active power supplied by the DG unit, and force the DG to follow the Pset signal. In the second simulation, Pset of the DG is changed and the impact of this change on the system has been

60.0

comp1

comp2

comp3

Figure 3: Inverter module

Main supply

+0.1
Feeder MW

P command

P inverter

+0.084 +0.068 +0.052 +0.036 +0.02 0.19 0.284 0.378 0.472 0.566 0.66

Inverter

Controller

Time (sec)
3-phase resistive load Induction motor Load

Figure 6: Inverter active and reactive output power

Fuel Cell DG unit

IV.

CONCLUSION

Figure 5: Simulated system studied. Figure 8 shows that the increase in Pset results in an increase in the power supplied by the DG unit and a corresponding decrease in the power supplied by the Utility grid, maintaining the power delivered to the load at a constant level. Figure 9 shows that the bus voltage has not been impacted by the controller operation.

This paper illustrates that new modules for DG and inverter interface extends the capabilities of EMTP. EMTP with new modules is essential in investigating the issues related to the connection of new technologies of distributed generators, such as fuel cells and microturbine, to the utility network. The simulator results illustrate the ability of the simulator to test and experiment new system concepts.

T T

S 1 S B

W W A Motor

Resistive load Input DC voltage

0.001 V R=0 1.0E-005 D 0.02 0.1 1 comp1 D 3 comp2 D 5 comp3 2.66E-005 2.66E-005 4 6 2 2.66E-005 10000.0 10000.0 900.0 900.0 900.0 A B C 5 [MVA] #1 0.13 0.48 #2 $R $R $R

Induction motor

A BRK A B C C Cable1 C1 Cable1 C1 B C3 C2 C2

60.0

comp1

comp2

comp3

Feeder cable

3-ph Inverter
A 0.001 B C3

Utility supply

Figure 7 System elements in PSCAD

REFERENCES
[1] A. M. Gole, V. K SOOD, A Static Compensator Model For Use With Electromagnetic Simulation Programs, Transactions of Power Delivery, Vol. 5 No. 3, July 1990, pp. 1398-1407. [2] S Lefebvre, L Gerin-Lajoie, A Static CompensatoModel for the EMTP, Transactions on Power Systems, Vol.7 No. 2, May 1992, pp. 477-484. [3] Manitoba HVDC Research Center, PSCAD/EMTDC V2 Users Manual, Copyright Manitoba HVDC Research Center. [4] M. Begovic, A. Pregelj, A. Rohatgi, D. Novosel, Impact of renewable distributed generation on power systems, System Sciences, 2001. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii Intern. Conference, 2001, pp. 654-663 [5] J. Padulles, G.W. Ault, J.R. McDonald, An approach to the dynamic modelling of fuel cell characteristics for distributed generation operation, Power Engineering Society Winter Meeting 2000. IEEE, Vol. 1, 2000, pp. 134-138. [6] J. Padulles, G.W. Ault, J.R. McDonald, Fuel Cell Plant Dynamic Model for Power Systems Simulation, Proceedings of the 34th University Power Engineering Conference, 14-16 September 1999, Leicester, UK. Vol.1, pp. 21-25. [7] Hirschenhofer, J. H.: Fuel Cell Handbook, Published by Federal Energy Technology Center, US Department of Energy. Fourth Edition: November 1998
+1.65 +1.634 +1.618 MW +1.602 +1.586 +1.57 0.3 +0.13 +0.116 +0.102 MW +0.088 +0.074 +0.06 0.3 +0.17 +0.156 +0.142 MW +0.128 +0.114 +0.1 0.3 +1.7 +1.36 +1.02 MW +0.68 +0.34 +0 0.3

Untitled
power AC supply

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0.95

power DG unit

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power R_load

0.43

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power Ind motor

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Time (sec)
Figure 8: Active power

BIOGRAPHIES
Mesut E Baran (S 87 M 88) is currently as associate professor at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. His research interest include distribution and transmission system design. Ismail M. El-Markabi is a graduate student in Dept. of ECE, North Carolina State University. Currently he is studying towards his Ph.D. degree. His research interest includes distributed generation, power electronics control and PSCAD.

+0.19 +0.114 +0.038 -0.038 -0.114 -0.19 0.409

op Voltage AB

op VoltageBC

op VoltageCA

0.417

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Time (sec)

Figure 9: Voltage waveforms