A Comprehensive Design Approach of Power Electronic-Based Distributed Generation Units Focused on Power-Quality Improvement

The undesirable harmonic distortion produced by distributed generation units (DGUs) based on power-electronic inverters presents operating and power-quality challenges in electric systems. The level of distortion depends on the internal elements of the DGUs as well as on the characteristics of the grid, loads, and controls, among others. This paper presents a comprehensive method, focused on power-quality indexes and efficiency for the design of microgrids with multiple DGUs interconnected to the ac grid through three-phase multi-Megawatt medium-voltage pulsewidth-modulated-voltage-source inverters (PWM-VSI). The proposed design method is based on a least square solution using the harmonic domain modeling approach to effectively consider explicitly the harmonic characteristics of the DGUs and their direct and cross-coupling interaction with the grid, loads, and the other DGUs. Extensive simulations and analyses against PSCAD are presented in order to show the outstanding performance of the proposed design approach.