Direct power control of grid connected PV systems with three level NPC inverter

This paper presents the control of a three-level Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) voltage source inverter for grid connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. The control method used is the Extended Direct Power Control (EDPC), which is a generic approach for Direct Power Control (DPC) of multilevel inverters based on geometrical considerations. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms, that allow maximal power conversion into the grid, have been included. These methods are capable of extracting maximum power from each of the independent PV arrays connected to each DC link voltage level. The first one is a conventional MPPT which outputs DC link voltage references to EDPC. The second one is based on DPC concept. This new MPPT outputs power increment references to EDPC, thus avoiding the use of a DC link voltage regulator. The whole control system has been tested on a three-level NPC voltage source inverter connected to the grid and results confirm the validity of the method.