Threshold Value of DC Array Current and DC String Voltage for Fault Detection in Grid-Connected Photovoltaic System

Abstract

The failure detection in a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system has become an important aspect of solving the issue of the reduced energy output in the PV system. One of the methods in detecting failure is by using the threshold-based method to compute the ratio of actual and predicted DC array current and DC string voltage value. This value will be applied in the failure detection algorithm by using power loss analysis and may reduce the time, cost and labour needed to measure the quality of the energy output of the PV system. This study presented the threshold value of DC array current and DC string voltage to be implemented in the algorithm of fault detection in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system under the Malaysian climate. Data from the PV system located at Green Energy Research Center (GERC) was recorded in 12 months interval using the monocrystalline PV modules. The actual data was recorded using five minutes interval for 30 consecutive days. The prediction of the data was calculated using the mathematical method. The threshold value was determined from the ratio between actual and predicted data. The results show that the DC array current threshold value, σ is 0.9816. While, DC string voltage threshold value, λ is 0.9261. The proposed value may be beneficial for the determination of threshold value for regions with the tropical climate.