Power Quality of a Voltage Source Converter in a

Smart Grid
Preye M. Ivry, Muhyaddin J. Rawa, D. W. P. Thomas, and Mark Sumner
Electrical Systems and Optics Research Division, The University of Nottingham
Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK.
eexpmiv@nottingham.ac.uk, mrawa@kau.edu.sa,
dave.thomas@nottingham.ac.uk, mark.sumner@nottingham.ac.uk

Abstract— One objective of the smart grid is to produce clean
energy through the use of Renewable Energy Sources (RES)
such as wind turbines and photovoltaic cells. RES systems are
usually interfaced to the grid using electronic power converters.
However, these interfacing converters generate voltage and
current harmonics at the converter terminal which are further
transmitted to the rest of the smart grid.
This paper presents and evaluates different factors that may
affect the produced harmonics and reduce the quality of power
on the smart grid. The factors are investigated first from the
converter design specification such as the switching frequency,
modulation index and the converter topology, then from the
smart grid network characteristics. It clearly shows in detail the
relation between these factors and the harmonics generated by
the converters and how it affects the power quality of the smart
grid. The RES system and smart grid was simulated using
MATLAB SimulinkTM and PlecsTM simulation tools.
Index Terms—Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), Plecs
Modeling, Power Quality, Smart Grid, Voltage Source
Converter (VSC).
I. INTRODUCTION
[3]. The RES systems are usually interfaced to the grid using
power electronic converters [1]-[4]. Recently, Voltage Source
Converters (VSCs) have enjoyed more attention and use due
to their better controllability and fast switching responses [4].
With the integration of the RES to the conventional grid, it
has become necessary to assess the power quality of the smart
grid as the interfacing VSC converter has been known to
produce both voltage and current harmonics at the VSC
terminals which are further transmitted into the grid [4].
These harmonics adversely affect the smart grid causing
sensitive equipment to trip or malfunction, overheating of
transformers, reduction of equipment life span, and
interference with the smart grid communication systems
leading to incorrect signal analysis [5].
Thus, the aim of this paper is to present and evaluate
different factors that might affect the generated harmonics of
the VSC at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) to the
smart grid. Firstly, as a result of the VSC design specification
and then from the point of the smart grid network
characteristics. Many papers have discussed some of these
factors in parts; however, they have not shown the specific

T he advancement of innovative technology and the

increased penetration of renewable/sustainable energy
generation system upon the electrical network have led
impact of these factors on the harmonics in a comprehensive
manner from two points: VSC design specification and grid
characteristics.
researchers and utility companies to develop new concepts This paper presents a RES generic VSC inverter (as shown
like the “Microgrid” and “Smart Grid”. These concepts have in Fig. 1) integrated to the smart grid via line reactors and a
been introduced so as to improve electrical energy capacitive filter at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC).
production, transmission, distribution and consumption. The The VSC inverter switching strategy is the sinusoidal pulse
microgrid has been defined as a controllable close width modulation and its control is based on the
assemblage of small generators, storage devices and loads instantaneous power balance theory.
utilized in the optimisation of renewable/sustainable energy
systems [1]. While the smart grid can be described as an
intelligent way of operating the power system at all levels
using communication technology, power electronic
technology, and storage technologies to balance electrical
energy production and consumption [2].
One objective of the smart grid concept is to produce clean
energy through the use of Renewable Energy Sources (RES)
in order to reduce carbon emission from fossil fuel burning
Fig. 1. A single line diagram of a grid interfacing RES VSC inverter.

The authors would like to acknowledge The Petroleum Technology

Development Fund (PTDF), Nigeria for funding this PhD study.
 The VSC grid interfacing inverter and the smart grid were The ratio of the peak amplitude of the modulating signal
simulated using the Matlab SimulinkTM and PlecsTM Vm and the peak amplitude of the carrier signal Vtri gives the
simulation tool [6]. These tools are also used to model the amplitude modulation index ma [8]:
exact effects of these factors on the harmonics injected to the
Vˆm 2(Vˆa )1
smart grid. The voltage and current harmonics were measured ma = = (1)
at the PCC to determine the power quality of the smart grid Vˆtri Vdc
and quantified using the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
indices. Whereby, a lower THD implies a better power where (Vˆa )1 is the peak amplitude of the fundamental voltage,
quality at the PCC. Vdc is the DC voltage and ma ≤ 1.
II. VSC CONVERTER DESIGN AND CONTROL The ratio of the carrier signal frequency to the modulating
The studied RES system shown in Fig. 2 comprises DC signal frequency determines the frequency modulating index
Power Source, DC capacitor, RES interfacing VSC, VSC [8].
reactors, Harmonic filter, grid impedance and 3-phase grid f tri f
voltage (representing the rest of the smart grid). mf = = sw (2)
fm fm
B. Control Scheme
The active and reactive current control technique is
employed to control the instantaneous active and reactive
power of the VSC converter using a PI vector controller. This
is chosen as it is simple to design, less complex to implement
and has a robust control response in a balanced system [7], [9].
In this control scheme, the active and reactive power flow
on the system is regulated by controlling the active current
component Igd and the reactive current component Igq. The PI
controllers forces Igd and Igq to track certain reference
commands Igdref and Igqref, respectively [9]. Igdref is provided by
the DC capacitor controller and Igqref is provided by a
reference signal generator block.
Utilizing the instantaneous power theory [4]:
Fig. 2. RES VSC Inverter Interfaced to the Smart Grid Modeled in Plecs. Pdc = Pac (3)
It is necessary to establish the switching pattern and 3
control technique as this can affect the harmonics generated Pg = (Vgd I gd − Vgq I gq ) (4a)
2
by a VSC converter [7].
3
A. Switching Strategy Qg = (Vgq I gd − Vgd I gq ) (4b)
2
The Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation is adopted for the where Pdc is the DC source power and Pac is the active power
VSC IGBTs switching as it is the most common approach. It on the grid (Pg), Qg is the reactive power on the grid.
compares a high frequency carrier signal with a slow varying Since the phase voltage of the grid is aligned to the d-axis
modulating signal. The points of intersection determine the
reference frame then Vgq = 0 [4], so the equation can be
switching of the IGBTs in the VSC [8].
further reduced to:
3
Pg = (Vgd I gd ) (5a)
2
3
Qg = − (Vgd I gq ) (5b)
2
If Igd = Igdref and Igq = Igqref then Pg and Qg can be controlled by
Pgref and Qgref [4]. So that:
2
I gdref = Pgref (6a)
3V gdref
2
I gqref = − Q gref (6b)
3V gdref
However in this paper the DC capacitor voltage is
regulated by a separate PI controller and the controller
Fig. 3. Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation Scheme.
provides the required Igdref for the control of the active power
ΔIˆL max = 20% × I rated (11)
on the VSC.
The PI controller for the active and reactive current is
designed based on the plant (Gpc) of the system which is [4]:
Lc1 = αLc 2 (12)
1 Prated
G pc ( s ) = (7)
C f = 15% × (13)
Rc + sLc 3 ⋅ 2πf m ⋅ Vrated
2

where Rc is the resistance of the VSC line (Ω) and Lc is the

inductance of the VSC line (mH). Lc1 + Lc 2
The DC capacitor voltage is regulated to make sure the ω res = (14)
Lc1 Lc 2 C f
voltage across the capacitor is fixed as demanded by the
control [4].
1
E ( s ) 3m Rd = (15)
G pv ( s ) = dc = (8) 3 ⋅ ω res ⋅ C f
I gd ( s ) 4C s
Lc1 and Lc2 are filters inductances 1 and 2, ΔIˆL max is the
The DC capacitor PI controller is designed based on (9)
peak inductor maximum current ripple (A), α is a limiting
where 3m is a constant, it can be further modified to factor for Lc2, Cf is the filter capacitance (µF), ωres is the
4 resonant frequency (rad/s) and Rd is the damping resistance
E dc ( s ) 1 (Ω).
G pv ( s ) = = (9)
I gd ( s ) C s IV. POWER QUALITY OF VSC BASED ON DESIGN
SPECIFICATION
where Edc is the DC capacitor voltage, C is the DC capacitance
(µF) and Gpv is the DC side plant. Based on the design specification, the major factors that
can affect the harmonics generated by the RES VSC inverter
Fig. 4 shows the control scheme utilized in the control of are [9]:
the active and reactive power on the microgrid. • The Amplitude Modulation Index (ma)
• The Switching Frequency (fsw)/Frequency Modulation
Index (mf)
• The Converter Topology
• Inverter Operating Power
A. Amplitude Modulation Index (ma)
The amplitude modulation index determines the amplitude
of the generated current/voltage harmonics at the switching
frequency and its multiples. The amplitude of the voltage
harmonic is independent of the modulation frequency index
[8], [13], [14].

Iga (THD) (%) Vga (THD) (%)

Current/voltage THD at PCC (%)

5
4
Fig. 4. Control Scheme for the grid interfacing VSC converter.
3
III. FILTER DESIGN
The conventional way of attenuating harmonics to meet 2
the IEEE 519 harmonic standard [10] is by the use of filters. 1
For this system an LCL filter is utilized. It provides an
attenuation of -60dB/decade for frequencies in excess of the 0
resonant frequency. The instability issue associated with an 0.6 0.75 0.9
LCL filter is dampened by using a passive damping element
[11] - [12]. The design formula for the LCL filter is given Amplitude Modulation Index
below [11] - [12]:

1 Vdc
Lc1 = × (10) Fig. 5. Effect of ma on ITHD and VTHD at PCC of Smart Grid.
8 f sw ⋅ ΔIˆL max
 Fig. 5 shows the effect of varying ma from 0.6-0.9. It can
be seen that with the increase of ma the VTHD and ITHD at the
PCC also increases. This is the case of a system that contains Iga (THD) (%) Vga (THD) (%)

Current/Voltage THD at PCC (%)

an LC or an LCL filter before the PCC. Assuming the system
is L filtered, increasing ma helps to reduce the amplitude of the 5
individual harmonics thus reducing ITHD and VTHD at PCC [9].
4
B. Switching Frequency (fsw)/Frequency Modulation Index
(mf) 3
For a SPWM VSC grid interfacing converter, the 2
generated harmonics would appear at fsw, and its multiples.
There would also be positive and negative sidebands centred 1
around the fsw and its multiples. This is true for all values 0
where ma range is from 0 – 1 [8], [14]. In this case mf defines
2-level 3-level
the frequency at which the harmonic voltage or current would
occur. The frequency and the order at which the individual Converter Topology
harmonic would occur is given in [9].

Fig. 7. Effect of Converter Topology on ITHD and VTHD at PCC of Smart Grid.
Iga (THD) (%) Vga (THD) (%)
Fig. 7 shows that both the VTHD and ITHD at the PCC of the
Current/Voltage THD at PCC (%)

5 smart grid is below 2.5% for the 3-level VSC while that of the
2-level VSC is about 4.2% and 3.46% respectively.
4
D. Inverter Operating Power
3
The operating power (P) of the inverter is also important in
2 determining the power quality that would appear at the PCC
1 of the smart grid. VSC inverters are usually operated a little
below rated power and this might affect the level of
0 harmonics generated by the VSC. The effect of power
2 4 8 increase beyond the rated is also simulated and result
presented.
Switching Frequency (kHz)
Iga (THD) (%) Vga (THD) (%)
Current/Voltage THD at PCC (%)

Fig. 6. Effect of fsw/mf on ITHD and VTHD at PCC of Smart Grid.

20
The voltage and current THD of the VSC at the PCC of
the smart grid can be improved by using a higher fsw/mf as 15
observed in Fig. 6. It is also necessary to state that this is
done at the expense of increasing the switching losses within 10
the VSC inverter. In [9] the system is L filtered and has no
filter capacitor, it was shown that increasing fsw helps to only 5
reduce ITHD, as VTHD remained the same for all cases.
0
C. Converter Topology
1/4P 1/2P 3/4P P 3/2P 7/4P 2P
The converter topology determines the maximum voltage a
single IGBT would be required to switch through [13]. The Inverter Operating Power (kW)
basic topology for the VSC is the 2-level VSC topology. In the
2-level VSC, the IGBTs are made to switch through the full
DC voltage Vdc. In series connection of these devices the Fig. 8. Effect of Operating Power on ITHD and VTHD at PCC of Smart Grid.
maximum voltage an IGBT is required to switch through Fig. 8 shows that at lower operating power (≤1/2P) the
reduces and this has led to the introduction and use of current THD is higher and it goes beyond the IEEE 519
multilevel VSC converters in medium and high voltage level harmonic limit but at operating power close to and above the
applications and in HVDC links [13]. rated power i.e. ≥3/4P the ITHD stays within the harmonic limit.
The 3-level VSC considered here is the Neutral Point It could also be observed that the VTHD at the PCC is not
Clamped (NPC) as illustrated in [9]. affected much at all instances the VTHD is about 4.25%.
 V. POWER QUALITY AT PCC BASED ON SMART GRID
CHARACTERISTICS
Most analysis of RES integrated to the grid usually
assumes the grid characteristics are perfect and that the power
quality issues are only as a result of the RES system [15]. In
reality, the grid voltage waveform usually contains various
disturbances and harmonics that significantly affect the quality
of the current and voltage on the smart grid [15]. In this paper
the grid characteristics that would be investigated include the
grid voltage waveform and the grid impedance.
A. Grid Voltage waveform
The level of distortion on the grid voltage goes a long way
in influencing the current and voltage THD at the PCC. Fig. 9
shows how minor distortions from 0-5% THD can affect the
quality of power at the PCC to the Smart Grid.
Fig. 10 shows a case where a large percentage of 3rd
harmonics are present in the grid voltage waveform and how
much this would affect the voltage THD at the PCC.
B. Grid Impedance
In this paper the studied system has a typical grid
impedance of (0.4 + j0.25) Ω [16]. This impedance is as a
result of the interconnecting cables and the transformer
impedance to the PCC [15]. The grid impedance interacts with
the filter impedance on the system to provide the total
attenuation observed at the PCC. Assuming there is no
impedance between the grid and the PCC the undistorted
voltage waveform of the grid would appear at the PCC.
Iga (THD) (%) Vga (THD) (%)

Current/Voltage THD at PCC (%)

12
Iga (THD) (%) Vga (THD) (%) 10
8
Current/Voltage THD at PCC (%)

7
6
6
5 4
4 2
3 0
2 0Z 1/4Z 1/2Z 3/4Z Z 3/2Z 2Z
1
0 Grid Impedance
0 1 2 3 4 5
Fig. 11. Effect of Impedance variation on ITHD and VTHD at PCC of Smart
%THDV0 of Grid Voltage Grid.

At no impedance the current THD is very high but there is

Fig. 9. Effect of Grid Voltage Distortions on ITHD and VTHD at PCC of Smart
Grid.
A grid distortion of 3% could cause the VTHD at the PCC to
go above 5%, while that of 5% can cause it to increase to
6.7% this fails to meet the IEEE 519 standard. From the
simulation results in Fig. 9 the current THD seems not to be
well affected, because there is a good LCL filter between the
VSC and the PCC to the smart grid.
Iga (THD) (%)
Current/Voltage THD at PCC (%)
no voltage harmonics at the PCC. Fig. 11 illustrates a very
interesting trend as it is observed that the ITHD at the PCC
reduces as the grid impedance increases, while the voltage
THD increases at the increase of impedance. That is at low
impedances there is better VTHD at the PCC and at high
impedances the ITHD at the PCC improves as VTHD worsens.
Based on Fig.11 the VSC harmonic performance at the PCC is
significantly affected by the smart grid impedance variation,
thus, proper evaluation of the grid impedance is required
before designing the VSC filter for harmonic attenuation.
Vga (THD) (%)
VI. CONCLUSION

30 In conclusion, harmonics standards like the IEEE 519

25 standard and other standards can be met by the smart grid if
20 the factors affecting power quality are known and given
consideration during the integration of the RES to the smart
15
grid. Reduced harmonics from the VSC inverter design stage
10 would also reduce the complexity and cost of the additional
5 filters. It was also noted that the VSC inverter has better
0 power quality when operated at 75% (3/4) Prated and above.
The effect of the smart grids background harmonics also
0 17.75 21.25 24.5 need to be included in the filter design, for most filters are
designed considering only the harmonics generated by the
% of V3 to V1
inverter on an ideal grid. More so, proper evaluation of the
grid impedance is important in designing the VSC filter as
Fig. 10. Effect of 3rd harmonic injection on ITHD and VTHD at PCC of Smart
Grid.
grid impedance variation affects the power quality of the [14] Bismal K. Bose, Modern Power Electronics and AC Drives:
Prentice Hall PTR Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2002.
VSC at the PCC of the smart grid.
[15] A. D. Simmons and D. G. Infield, "Current waveform quality from
grid-connected photovoltaic inverters and its dependence on
operating conditions," Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and
APPENDIX Applications, vol. 8, pp. 411-420, 2000.
[16] A. Mansoor, W. M. Grady, A. H. Chowdhury, and M. J. Samotyi,
Studied RES and Smart Grid Parameters "An investigation of harmonics attenuation and diversity among
Rated power, P 10kW distributed single-phase power electronic loads," IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 10, pp. 467-473, 1995.
Smart Grid voltage, Va 240Vph
Grid frequency, fm 50Hz
VSC DC capacitor voltage, Vdc 640V
VSC switching frequency, fsw 2kHz
Converter interfacing inductance 1, Lc1 3mH
Converter filter inductance 2, Lc2 0.7mH
Converter line resistance, Rcabc 0.1Ω
Filter capacitor, Cf 18.42µF
Damping resistance, Rd 1.81Ω

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