Performance assessment of renewable energy-fed three-phase grid-connected voltage source converters and boost inverters during DC side faults

Abstract

In renewable energy-fed grid-connected applications, voltage source converters (VSC) offer high flexibility and system controllability features. In addition to the stepped down nature of its output voltage, the VSC is inherently defenseless against faults. On the other hand, boost Inverters provides voltage boosting characteristic and complete blocking capability between the AC grid and the DC side fault which protects the semiconductor devices during DC faults. A simulation study to compare the performance of VSC and boost inverters during DC side faults is conducted in this paper. The simulation results elucidate a significant decrease in the DC fault current in case of boost inverter due to its blocking capability.