Photovoltaic electricity generator dynamic modeling methods for smart grid applications: A review

This paper presents a comprehensive review on mathematical modeling methods of photovoltaic (PV) solar cell/module/array which can be used for power system dynamic modeling purpose. The intermittent and non-linear properties of PV solar cells necessitate accurate modeling of such elements for power system studies. Large scale integration of photovoltaic distributed generation (PVDG) systems into the smart power grid can adversely affect the stability of whole network if the solar plant is not designed properly. A model of solar cell which can predict the PV system output precisely would be helpful to improve reliability and stability of the intelligent utility network. For the smart grid applications which integrate the rapidly growing technologies together with renewable resources, the suitable dynamic model of PV plant is very essential at preliminary evaluation steps. In this paper, a new classification is presented on existing PV cell/module/array modeling methods. Modeling techniques are categorized in two main classes, namely, circuitry based methods and equation based methods. The former class encompasses two sub-classes i.e. embedded function blocks (EFBs) and piecewise linear circuit (PLC) techniques. The second class also consists of two sub-classes i.e. analytical and numerical techniques. The characteristics of each class and its sub-classes are also analyzed and compared to others. Comparison between the methods in both categories indicates that the former class is easy to implement in power system simulation software. The latter class can be exploited to estimate parameters of solar cell in collaboration with EFBs method and vice versa. The second class is more accurate than the first although its computational burden is further. It is envisaged that this paper can serve researchers and designers who work in the field of solar power plant dynamic modeling as useful source of information.