Photovoltaic system and method for operating a photovoltaic system for feeding electrical power into a medium-voltage network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9917443-B2
Application number	US-201414535462-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 7, 2014
Priority date	May 7, 2012
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method for operating a photovoltaic system for feeding a medium-voltage grid, wherein the photovoltaic system has a photovoltaic generator including a plurality of photovoltaic modules, at least one inverter and at least one medium-voltage transformer. The medium-voltage transformer is connected on the primary side directly to a low-voltage AC output of the inverter, the inverter is connected to the photovoltaic generator via a DC input, and the inverter permits reverse currents from the low-voltage AC output to the DC input. The method is characterized by the fact that in the event that there is insufficient generation of electric power for the feed by the photovoltaic modules, the inverter remains connected on the AC side to the medium-voltage grid via the medium-voltage transformer, and remains connected on the DC side to the photovoltaic generator.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating a photovoltaic system for feeding a medium-voltage grid, wherein the photovoltaic system has a photovoltaic generator comprising a plurality of photovoltaic modules connected in series, at least one inverter and at least one medium-voltage transformer, and wherein the medium-voltage transformer is connected on the primary side directly to a low-voltage AC output of the inverter, the inverter is connected to the photovoltaic generator via a DC input, and the inverter permits reverse currents from the low-voltage AC output to the DC input, comprising:
determining whether there is insufficient generation of electric power by the photovoltaic modules for feeding to the medium-voltage grid;
maintaining a connection between an AC side of the inverter and the medium-voltage grid via the medium-voltage transformer when insufficient electric power generation is determined; and
maintaining a connection between a DC side of the inverter and the photovoltaic generator when insufficient electric power generation is determined,
wherein a number of the plurality of photovoltaic modules connected in series within the photovoltaic generator is sufficiently large so that a forward voltage of the plurality of series-connected photovoltaic modules is greater than a voltage set at the DC input owing to the reverse currents.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a coupling contactor, arranged between the medium-voltage transformer and the medium-voltage grid, wherein the coupling contactor is configured to isolate the photovoltaic system on the secondary side of the medium-voltage transformer from the medium-voltage, in a case that preset requirements for grid feed parameters are not met.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the grid feed parameters comprise a voltage amplitude and/or a frequency of the medium-voltage grid and/or a fed reactive power.

4. A photovoltaic system, comprising:
a photovoltaic generator comprising a plurality of photovoltaic modules;
at least one inverter; and
at least one medium-voltage transformer, wherein the at least one medium-voltage transformer is connected on a primary side thereof directly to a low-voltage AC output of the inverter,
wherein the at least one inverter is connected to the photovoltaic generator via a DC input, and
wherein the at least one inverter permits reverse currents from the low-voltage AC output to the DC input,
wherein a number of photovoltaic modules connected in series within the photovoltaic generator is sufficiently large so that a forward voltage of the series-connected photovoltaic modules is greater than a voltage set at the DC input owing to the reverse currents.

5. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , wherein no switching element which can close by actuation or automatically is provided in the connection between the medium-voltage transformer and the low-voltage AC output of the inverter.

6. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , wherein no switching element which can open and close by actuation or automatically is provided in the connection between the photovoltaic generator and the DC input of the inverter.

7. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one inverter comprises a bridge having switching transistors.

8. The photovoltaic system according to claim 7 , wherein the inverter bridges have freewheeling diodes, which are arranged back-to-back in parallel with respect to the switching resistors of the inverter bridges.

9. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , further comprising a coupling contactor arranged in the connection between the medium-voltage transformer and the medium-voltage grid.

10. The photovoltaic system according to claim 9 , wherein the at least one medium-voltage transformer comprises at least two medium-voltage transformers connected to one another on a secondary side upstream of the coupling contactor in a direction of energy flow during feeding, with the result that the coupling contactor, in the event of a switching operation, disconnects the at least two medium-voltage transformers jointly from the medium-voltage grid or connects said transformers thereto.

11. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , further comprising a monitoring device configured to check grid feed parameters of the current generated by the photovoltaic system connected to the coupling contactor and configured to interact therewith.

12. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , further comprising a fuse element provided on a secondary side of each of the at least one medium-voltage transformer.

13. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , further comprising a load break switch provided on a secondary side for each of the at least one medium-voltage transformer.

14. The photovoltaic system according to claim 13 , wherein the load break switch is a spring-operated disconnector.

15. The photovoltaic system according to claim 9 , wherein the coupling contactor is configured to withstand more than 20,000 switching operations.

16. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one inverter is configured to operate at powers greater than 100 kW.

17. The photovoltaic system according to claim 4 , further comprising a precharging device configured to apply a preset voltage to a DC link at a DC input of the inverter.

18. The photovoltaic system according to claim 17 , further comprising a buffer battery configured to supply power to the precharging device during a disconnection of the photovoltaic system from the medium-voltage grid.

Assignees

• Sma Solar Technology Ag
• Adensis Gmbh

Inventors

• Falk Andreas
• Beck Bernhard
• Gerdemann Aaron Philipp
• Niebling Frank

Classifications

• H02M7/53871

  with automatic control of output voltage or current · CPC title

• H02J2101/24

  Photovoltaics · CPC title

• Y10T307/609

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H02J3/383

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J3/38 Primary

  Arrangements for feeding a single network from two or more generators or sources in parallel; Arrangements for feeding already energised networks from additional generators or sources in parallel · CPC title