Design and Modeling of Solar Photovoltaic System Using Seven-Level Packed U-Cell (PUC) Multilevel Inverter and Zeta Converter for Off-Grid Application in India

In the present study, standalone operationof the solar photovoltaic system with storage is evaluated with the recentlyintroduced seven-level packed U-cell (PUC) multilevel inverter. Zeta converteris used to regulate the output voltage of the photovoltaic (PV) array with thehelp of the MPPT algorithm. Level-shifted modulation scheme is applied for thePUC inverter. The standalone operation is taken into consideration keeping inview the application/penetration of the solar PV system in remote areas. TheMinistry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India has set up theplan to establish the standalone solar PV system for off-grid application inthe regions to meet the power requirement of those communities and regions thatare difficult to connect with the grid. The climatic condition in the centraland western parts of India is conductive for solar PV generation. In contrastto the other well-known inverter topologies, such as neutral point clamped,flying level capacitors, and cascaded H-bridge, among others, PUC inverterrequires the least number of switches and capacitors for the same outputlevels. The system is modeled in the MATLAB®/Simulink using the Waaree EnergiesWSM-315 modules to supply a load of 2 kW. To optimize the solar PV-basedsystem, incremental conductance optimization technique is used.

Cite this article as: Azeem A, Ansari MK,Tariq M, Sarwar A, Ashraf I. Design and Modeling of Solar Photovoltaic SystemUsing Seven-Level Packed U-Cell (PUC) Multilevel Inverter and Zeta Converterfor Off-Grid Application in India. Electrica, 2019; 19(2): 101-112.