Power Quality Performance of a Grid-Tie

Photovoltaic System in Colombia

Y. Ulianov, Senior Member, IEEE, and M. I. Arteaga Orozco, member, IEEE

The renewable energy technologies present a feasible

Abstract—This paper presents a research work that consider alternative for rural electrification mainly due to the distances
the weather conditions influence such as solar radiation and involved and the low electricity consumption of the average
temperature, on a solar grid-tie photovoltaic system. Power rural household.
quality measurements on a PV grid connected system are carried
out and theoretical and experimental data were analyzed under
the standard IEEE 929-2000 for PV systems. In this way, it is The implementation of renewable energy reduces the
possible to generate first considerations to develop and promote environmental hazards associated to use of fossil fuel. In other
regulations for using PV grid-connected systems in Colombia. words, renewables help to solve two conflicts related with the
electricity: to increase substantially rural electrification and to
Index Terms-- Renewable Energy, photovoltaic systems, power search technologies friendly to the environment.
quality, IEEE 929-2000.
According to the study of support for the Action Plan of
I. INTRODUCTION Colombia, renewable energy in the National Interconnected

E LECTRICITY has become a most important element in System participated with 192.4 MW in 2008, corresponding to
human life, absolutely essential for modern living and 1.4% of 13400 MW, of which 146 MW is for small
business. Under such circumstances, use of renewable and hydroelectric projects under 10 MW, 26.9 MW biomass
distributed energy generation offers an attractive alternative generation and 19.5 MW wind energy [2]. The renewable-
for power supply. The contribution of new and renewable energy installed potential of the country is insignificant in
energies in the form of solar, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal comparison with the total electricity generation capacity.
etc., are very limited and will remain so.
Considering the geographical position and climatic
Colombia is trying to comply with the global demand for characteristics of Colombia, the renewable energy
sustainable development by improving the technologies of its development has better prospects is photovoltaic. There is
power plants, implementing renewable energy sources, great potential of this resource in the country, given its
improving efficiency of utilization of electricity in industry location within the latitude 5º S (Leticia) and 13.5º N (San
and homes, adopting more efficient standards for electrical Andres), with little variation during the year and with monthly
appliances, changing of the way of life, etc. Additionally,
daily averages vary from 4 to 6 kWh/daily/m2 according to the
Colombia has an abundant electric power generating capacity
Atlas of Solar Radiation Colombia [3].
but about 20% of its population remains without electricity in
its homes [1].
The few existing applications are focused on the use of
One of the key energy-related issues in Colombia is to photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal energy. The PV is used to
increase the penetration of electricity into rural areas that are generate electricity in lighting homes, schools, rural clinics,
not currently interconnected by the national grid. The remote water pumping, small businesses, etc. PVs became ideal for
nature of small rural communities and their weak demand for remote rural communities, where a large population remains
electricity make extension of the grid to such areas an isolated from the distribution lines. While solar thermal energy
unprofitable business. Considering the escalating cost of is mainly used in pool heating.
connection of the service points in densely populated urban
areas and the present tariffs, rural grid extensions would Nowadays, PV technology is being underused high cost and
require significant inversion due to the larger distances and the lack of legal certainty. In this regard, Unidad de Planeación
Minero Enérgetica, UPME, an agency of the Ministerio de
relatively small electric loads.
Minas y Energía of Colombia, has developed various
initiatives in support of research and standardization of
renewable energy. For example, the standard ANC-603-11
Y. Ulianov is with Department of Energetic and Mechanic, Universidad defines the basic components of a photovoltaic [4]. It has also
Autónoma de Occidente,Calle 25#115-85, km 2 Via Cali-Jamundí,Cali, presented the National Plan for the Rational Use of Energy
Colombia (e-mail: [email protected]).
M.I.Arteaga Orozco is with the Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica y
and Energy Non-conventional 2010-2015 [2].
Térmica E.T.S., Universidad de Huelva, Campus de La Rábida – Palos de la
Frontera, 21819 Huelva (España) (e-mail: ).

978-1-4673-2673-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Corporacion Universitaria de la Costa. Downloaded on October 13,2020 at 18:10:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 In this context, the first grid connected PV was installed at For example, PV system of campus university includes six
the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 2004. This crystalline silicon solar modules (Kyocera KC85 model)
installation has allowed to observe the behavior of such connected in series with an output of 85 watts peak (Wp) and
systems in the city of Bogotá. This application uses virtual a maximum output voltage (Vmpp) of 17.4 volts each. Under
instrumentation for data acquisition and exploration of system these conditions the rated power of the modules is about 510
performance [5]. The second PV system is located on the Wp. This real PV array has been modeled. Figs. 2(a) and 2(b)
campus of the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente in Cali. present the current-voltage and power-voltage output
The acquisition of this equipment is part of the teaching and characteristics of a photovoltaic array for different solar
research is taking place this University, to seek new isolation [200-1000] W/m2 with temperature of 25ºC.
alternatives for energy generation in Colombia.

This article presents an overview of solar resource in

Colombia, including the analysis of the quality and efficiency
of the grid connected PV system at Universidad Autónoma de
Occidente. Subsequently, the measurements are compared to
some standards by the United of States. It is proposed that
academia can play a role in developing and implementing
these energy sources.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II

introduces the basic principle of the grid connected PV system
and some standards to evaluate its power quality. Section III
describes remote visualization of meteorological conditions in
Campus University. Section IV explains electrical parameters
measured. Finally, experimental data and conclusions are
presented.
a)
II. DESCRIPTION PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM
The components of a PV system depend on the type of
application (stand-alone or grid). The main element of these
installations is the PV module, which consists of a set of
photovoltaic cells that produce electricity from the light that
strikes them.

Fig. 1 shows the basic equivalent circuit of a solar cell,

where the IL dependent current source of solar radiation, the
real diode is characterized by a saturation current Io, an
ideality factor η and two resistors RS and RSH losses .

b)

Fig. 2 Characteristic curves of a set of solar modules a) curve current-

voltage b) curve power-voltage

The electricity generated from the PV array is transferred to

the primary component of the system, an inverter (see Fig. 3).
This component converts the DC power developed in PV array
Fig. 1 Equivalent model of a solar cell to AC power for to the electric grid usage. The inverter must
The electrical behavior of this cell is described in equation follow the maximum power point of PV system and to be
(1) [6]: efficient. Moreover, the power injected in the network must
⎛ q (VCη+KTRs I C ) ⎞ V + R I comply a minimum standard to avoid disturbing.
Ic = I L − Io ⎜e K
− 1⎟ − C s C
(1)
⎜ ⎟ R
⎝ ⎠ sh

where IC and VC correspond to the current and voltage of the

cell respectively, q is the electron charge, K is the Boltzmann
constant and TK is the cell temperature in ° K.

Fig. 3 General scheme of grid connected PV system

978-1-4673-2673-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Corporacion Universitaria de la Costa. Downloaded on October 13,2020 at 18:10:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 132<V<165 120 cycles
The 0,51 kW PV system of Universidad Autónoma de (110%<V<137%)
165≤V (137%≤V) 2 cycles
Occidente is installed on a support structure placed on a flat
roof. This system also includes a 700W inverter (Sunny Boy Frequency (at PCC) Maximum Trip Time
700U) to condition the DC voltage input to the nominal AC <59.3 Hz 6 cycles
voltage network. The entrance of the Sunny Boy 700U DC can 59.3 - 60.5 Hz (normal) --
vary between 77 and 150 V and nominal AC output voltage is >60.5 Hz 6 cycles
120 V at 60 Hz with a variation range between 106 and 132 V.
The IEEE Standard 519-1992 “Recommended Practices and
The nearest load consists of: a 3 HP compressor, a water Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electrical Power
pump of 0.5 HP, an electronic instrument BC200 (120 V - 60 Systems” [8] specifies the limits of harmonic voltage and
mA), an automatic controller trap (50 mA, 96-240 V) and 8 current at the point of common coupling between end user and
luminaries of 64 W. distribution utilities. The approach adopted in this standard
requires the participation of both end users and utilities. The
The PV system was monitored to assess and analyze the limits established by this standard are equal to 5 % for the
performance and power quality. In the case of photovoltaic voltage and current total harmonic distortion that the producer
installations connected to the network, follow a series of can provide to the customer. The limits for the maximum
recommendations to ensure stability and compatibility of the individual harmonic components are also determined and must
system, network and load. This study considered the American be 3 % for voltage lower than 69 kV. Power quality
standard IEEE 929-2000 [7] as a reference because in parameters have been measured at the output of the PV system
Colombia currently doesn’t have a publication. [9] and correlated to the solar irradiance data obtained from
the same place.
The IEEE Standard 929-2000 “Recommended practice for
utility interface of photovoltaic systems” applies to III. SOLAR RADIATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA.
photovoltaic power systems interconnected with the network
and using static inverters (solid state). This is the key The data of solar radiation and temperature in the
document for the utility interconnection of PV systems. It photovoltaic system were measured with the weather station's
contains sufficient requirements for PV systems of 10 kW or own Campus University, which provides information on solar
less. It also contains reasonable guidelines for larger systems radiation, sunshine, humidity, wind speed, temperature, UV
up to 500 kW. Larger systems may need additional review factor and rainfall from January 2008. The information from
given the constraints specific to the section of the utility this station is transmitted wirelessly to a checkpoint, which
system that the PV system is connected. This standard performs statistical information. Data are presented in Excel
provides recommendations on distortions of voltage and files and can be analyzed in a graphical interface like the one
frequency, power factor, anti-islanding, reconnect after a shown in fig. 4.
utility, direct-current injection, islanding protection. This
study includes factors related to personal safety, equipment
protection and power quality.

Table I contains the voltage and frequency requirements

within which the PV inverter is allowed to operate in the point
of common coupling (PCC): Conditions outside these limits
must initiate a “trip”, which is described as the time between
the abnormal condition being applied and the inverter ceasing
to energize the utility line. The inverter will actually remain
connected to the utility to allow sensing of utility electrical
conditions for use by the “reconnect” feature, but no power
will flow from the inverter to the grid in this state.

Fig. 4 Graphical Interface station software DAVIS.

TABLE I. VOLTAGE AND FREQUENCY REQUIREMENTS
IEEE 929-2000

Voltage (at PCC) Maximum Trip Time

V< 60 (V<50%) 6 cycles Current display data describes the current reading for each
60≤V<106 (50%≤V<88%) 120 cycles
weather variable. In most cases, the variable lists the most
recently updated reading or calculation. Some current variable
106≤V≤132 (88%≤V≤110%) Normal Operation
displays can be adjusted so there is an offset for the reading

978-1-4673-2673-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Corporacion Universitaria de la Costa. Downloaded on October 13,2020 at 18:10:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 In particular, data on hourly temperature and solar radiation
were studied to assess the electrical behavior of the solar
panels. Table II presents the average values of cumulative
daily radiation and temperature were obtained from the
monthly reports from the station during the months of January
2008 to May 2009.

Solar radiation during the months of May, June, July,

August and September has the highest levels, 4500 Wh/m2 on
average, while that for the rest of the year has an average of
3900 Wh/m2. The average temperature is 23.5 °C with
maximum and minimum range between 32.5 and 19 °C. Also,
note that it is a very sunny throughout the year with little
rainfall.
TABLE II.
MONTHLY MEAN VALUES OF TEMPERATURE AND RADIATION.

MONTH Wh/m2 Temperature(ºC) Fig. 5 Solar radiation performance

JANUARY 4209,7 23,1
With the average solar radiation can estimate the energy
FEBRUARY 4020,5 22,6 generated [6] solar modules, according to the expression (2)
MARCH 4331,5 24,3 n

APRIL 4323,7 23,0 E g = Am η s η p ∑H i (2)

i =1
MAY 4696,8 22,9
where Am is module area (m2), H i is the average hourly
JUNE 4382,2 23,0
solar radiation (Wh), ηp performance modules and ηs the rest
JULY 4472,1 23,1 of the system performance.
AUGUST 4106,8 23,1
This corresponds to approximately 1.8 kWh when the
SEPTEMBER 4539,6 23,5
module performance is 16%, its area is 0.5816 m2 and system
OCTOBER 4277,5 22,9 performance is 85%. The energy generated at the facility
NOVEMBER 3611 22,6 would cost 150 USD, each kWh as currently being purchased
for 0.11 USD (special rate for large consumers). Thus, the
MAY 3861 23,0
high cost of electricity can reduce the supply of solar PV.

A typical example of the solar irradiance measurements for IV. MONITORING SYSTEM
an average day in December at Universidad Autonoma de
Fig. 6 shows a diagram of the photovoltaic system
Occidente is shown in Fig. 5. The evolution of radiation
connected to the network. The power output of PV array can
during two days of measurement shows that this parameter has be calculated from the voltage and current readings recorded
maximum values ranging between 700 and 850 W/m2. in a single-phase meter (M1). The network analyzer shows the
evolution of current, voltage, harmonics and power injected by
the inverter to the grid.
The technical specifications of the equipment acquisition
are:

• A wireless weather station (Vantage Pro2 ™ Plus # 6162,

6163 of Davis Instruments) includes rain collector,
temperature and humidity sensors, anemometer, solar
radiation sensor, UV sensor and solar panel.
• A power quality analyzer (Fluke 43B) performs the
measurements of power system. It measures trends voltage,
current, frequency, power harmonics and captures voltage
sags, transients and inrush current.

978-1-4673-2673-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Corporacion Universitaria de la Costa. Downloaded on October 13,2020 at 18:10:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Fig. 6. Diagram of network-connected system

Small PV systems (<10kW) must be able to operate within

• An AC/DC current clamp meter M1 measures 1 A to 500A. the normal range of voltage distribution lines to which they
Current clamp is used to measure PV output current. connect. The primary distribution voltage needs to remain
• An analog clamp is used to measure PV DC output voltage. within limits: 106 V and 132 V, over the length of the feeder,
i.e. between 88 and 110% of rated voltage.
To determine the defects in the signal and know all power
quality measurements (that is, voltage, flicker, frequency, The RMS voltage has small range limits as shown in Fig. 7
distortion), it is necessary to measure the following parameters (measured 6-9 December), indicating low dependence on solar
in the system: irradiance. The measurements revealed that the presence of
this system could improve the power quality at the point of
• The PV system’s peak DC voltage and current output. connection. Thus, the PV system can act as an uninterrupted
• The inverter’s AC electrical characteristics. power supply, stabilizing the load voltage.
• The percentage of harmonic distortion, harmonics,
frequency and power factor at the point of common
coupling (PCC).
• Solar radiation on the horizontal plane in different months
of the year as well as the average monthly value of the
radiation found on the plane in the photovoltaic system.

Moreover, the inverter gives information as energy injected

into grid, DC voltage and AC power.

The solar power injection into an electric grid affects the

power quality due to the fluctuation nature of the irradiation
solar. Measurements allow checking the operation of the
photovoltaic system and verifying the performance of the
injection of energy to the public grid

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig. 7 Output voltage and current of 10-12 December in PCC

A. Service voltage
At night the voltage ranged between 122 V to 134 V higher
than the home voltage. This is representative of a typical
Voltage quality at the customers´ premises is described by circuit with voltage drops through the line and transformer
the American standard IEEE 929-2000 [7]. This standard impedances. During daylight hours, the maximum voltage
defines several quality criteria and corresponding limits. amplitude was 131.4 V, so it remained well within IEEE 929-
Utility-interconnected PV systems do not regulate voltage,
2000 limits. Due to heavy home loads in the morning, the PV
they inject current into the utility. Therefore, the voltage
system did not begin to export to the distribution system until
operating range for PV inverters is selected as a protection
almost noon. The maximum voltage value exceeded the limits
function that responds to abnormal utility conditions, not as a
voltage regulation function. while the PV system was out of service. The output inverter
worked with a voltage of 134.3 V on December 6, 2008 at

978-1-4673-2673-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Corporacion Universitaria de la Costa. Downloaded on October 13,2020 at 18:10:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
23:22.

B. Power Factor (PF)

The system must operate with a power factor greater than

0.85 when the output is greater than 10% of the nominal
power. As shown in Fig. 8, the waveform is not affected by
any disturbance that impairs the quality of the signal. The
power factor measured in cases, is totally resistive (PF = 1).

Fig. 10 Waveforms of voltage and current

C. Total Harmonic Distortion

In an ideal power system, the voltage supplied to the user's

computer and the resulting load current waveforms are ideal.
However, in practice, conditions are never ideal, so these
waveforms are often distorted. This deviation from ideal wave
is expressed in terms of harmonic distortion of current
waveforms and voltage.
Fig. 8 Sinusoidal waveform voltage and current in PCC
Fig. 11 shows the bar chart of harmonics on the connection
point. The value of total harmonic distortion (THD) is 2.8%.
Fig. 9 and 10 show the good quality of energy in the
The results presented by Fig. 9 and 10 show that the system
hotspot. The power factor and displacement factor coincide in
does not produce harmonics that degrade the signal, since the
value. It is well known that the displacement factor (DPF),
current harmonic distortion should be less than 5% sure that
some loads in the presence of harmonics is always greater than
this system does not interfere with other equipment connected
the power factor.
to the same bar.

Fig. 9 Voltage and current output in PCC

Fig. 11. Measurement of harmonics in bar chart

D. Frequency

Measurements show fluctuations in frequency between 59.97

Hz and 60.10 Hz, which is consistent with the range allowed

978-1-4673-2673-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Corporacion Universitaria de la Costa. Downloaded on October 13,2020 at 18:10:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
by the IEEE Standard 929-2000, which is between 59.3 Hz VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
and 60.5 Hz.
M. I Arteaga Orozco obtained the degree of
The system does not become a burden due to the blocking Electronic Engineering from Universidad del Cauca
diode on the panel. in 2000. She obtained the Ph.D degree in 2007, from
the Institute of Industrial and Control Engineering at
the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, for her
VI. CONCLUSIONS research on nonlinear control applied to power
switching converters at the Department of
This paper presents a grid connected photovoltaic system in Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Automatic
Colombia. The preliminary study of solar radiation and Control of Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona,
temperature of the city, demonstrates the great potential Spain.
existing energy in the area. To improve the existing
Her research interests include nonlinear control, applications of variable
information about the solar resource must be created structure systems to power electronics and interconnection of photovoltaic
information system that provides updated data on inclined sources to the electricity grid. She is currently professor at the Department of
plane. Also, daily data on various components such as solar Electrical Engineering of Universidad de Huelva, Spain. She is reviewer for
several IEEE scientific publications.
diffuse radiation, direct and reflected.

The lack of information about some major solar energy

Yuri Ulianov López (M’1995, SM’2011) obtained
options such as photovoltaic technology shows a need for his Bachelor on electrical engineer from
more education and public information and the environment Universidad Autónoma de Occidente. In 2010, he
through demonstration projects. obtaines a PhD degree on renewable energies and
energy efficiency from the Universidad de
Zaragoza, Spain. Actually, he is with the
The power quality of the grid connected PV system has department of energetic and mechanic of the
been analyzed under influence of a load. This work has Universidad Autónoma de Occidente. His actual
experimentally shown that the service voltage is affected not research interests are modelling and simulation of
Solar and wind power systems, focused on the
only by the grid conditions but also the load levels. While the stability on power systems.
power factor and harmonic distortions comply with the
American standards.

As future research is required first and simultaneous

continuous monitoring of parameters that determine the
quality of energy, such as active and reactive power and
fluctuations of load, showing more accurate performance grid-
connected solar systems.

VII. REFERENCES

[1] Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética – UPME, Ministerio de Minas

y Energía, República de Colombia, Cobertura eléctrica rural, 2005.
[2] Ministerio de Minas y Energía, República de Colombia, Programa de
Uso Racional y Eficiente de Energía y Fuentes No Convencionales –
PROURE – Plan de acción al 2015 con visión al 2025, Bogotá D.C.,
Mayo 31 de 2010, pp. 10.
[3] Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales, IDEAM,
and Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética - UPME, República de
Colombia, Atlas de Radiación solar de Colombia, 2005.
[4] Instituto Colombiano de Normas Técnicas y Certificación, ICONTEC.
Comité: Energía Solar y Fotovoltaica.
[5] A.J. Aristizabal, G. Gordillo, Performance monitoring results of the first
grid-connected BIPV system in Colombia, Renewable Energy. Vol. 33.
2008, pp. 2475-2484.
[6] L. Jutglar, Energía Solar-Energías Alternativas y Medio Ambiente ( Ed.
CEAC, Barcelona, 2004).
[7] IEEE Std 929-2000,. Recommended for practice utility interface of
photovoltaic (PV) systems, Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Inc., New York, Abril 2000. pp 1-25.
[8] IEEE Standard 519-1992, Recommended Practices and Requirements
for Harmonic Control in Electrical Power Systems, IEEE Standards
Office, April 1993, pp 1-100.
[9] S. Cardona, M. Carretero, Analysis of the current total harmonic
distortion for different single-phase inverters for grid-connected PV
systems, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells. Vol. 87. 2005. pp. 529–
540.

978-1-4673-2673-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Corporacion Universitaria de la Costa. Downloaded on October 13,2020 at 18:10:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.