GRID TIE THE BASICS Grid tie (also known as grid-intertied or utility-interactive) systems are intended to operate in parallel

with an electric utility.

At night or during inclement weather all the electricity is supplied by the mains. During the daylight hours, the system generates some power, offsetting the consumption of electricity from the utility and cutting electric bills. The balance of the power required by your loads is automatically drawn from the input lines. If the PV panels are producing more electricity than you are using, the system will feed the surplus of the energy back to the utility. It may even spin your electric meter backwards, further reducing your monthly bill. Such configuration is the most common, simplest and less expensive than other types of grid-interactive residential PV setups. Currently, an average cost of an installed batteryless on-grid PV generators for homes is about $7 per watt, although for homeowners a large part of it may be offset by various credits and rebates. The main disadvantage of such systems is that normally they do not provide any back-up power during blackouts even if sun is shining and the PV array is producing enough energy.

PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION AND THE SCHEMATIC

Below is a simplified electrical wiring diagram of a typical grid

tie solar power system that illustrates its operation. The strings of the solar panels are paralleled in the combiner that includes fuses or circuit breakers. It is desirable although not required to have a separate overcurrent interrupter for each string.

One of the two DC buses from the PV array is usually grounded. In theory, either bus can be ground - you need to check your part's manual. Most inverters come configured for negative ground, although some panels manufacturers recommend positive ground for higher efficiency. The combiner

frame or the PV arrays grounding conductor should also bonded to an earth rod. A manual DC disconnect switch is required at the place where the cables from the solar array enter the house. The DC systems in use today can be up to 600V. Since it is hard to find UL listed single-pole breakers rated for 600VDC, you can use a breaker with multiple poles connected in series. To reduce the possibility of a fire and to protect the system from a damage caused by lightings it is desirable to have a voltage-clamping device, such as a metal oxide varistor (MOV) across the DC bus. The main DC disconnect switch is followed by a DC ground fault interrupter - a device that opens the circuit when it detects a specified leakage current to earth from a DC bus. Note that DC grounding should be done only in one place. If you ground a cable both before and after GFI, it will go off. A voltage from the PV array is then converted to AC by a special utility interactive DC-AC inverter. Such a device operates as a pulse-width modulated switch mode power supply (SMPS) with AC output. Its output is connected to the main service panel. The utility companies usually require an additional manual AC disconnect between the inverter's AC output and the power lines. A grid tie inverter should meet certain power quality and synchronization requirements, and provide anti-islanding protection. Note that it will be powering your home only when utility is available. If the grid is down, the PV system has to immediately seize exporting power. The control circuit automatically synchronizes inverter's output to the mains. In order to allow the current flow back into the service lines, the inverter's output voltage has to be slightly higher than the utility voltage. For more details see a grid tie inverter schematic. To extract the maximum power out of the PV panels, it is best

to operate them near peak power point of their volt-amp curve. This requires different loads depending on the illumination and ambient temperature. Grid tie inverters for solar applications normally use maximum power tracking algorithm that helps to extract maximum power from the solar panels (see: I-V characteristics of solar panels). In practice, the solar inverters often have several fused pairs of DC inputs that make an external combiner unnecessary. They also usually include internal DC interrupt switch and ground fault interrupter. This wiring diagram shows an example of a 3-wire "split-phase" 120/240 VAC configuration typical for most new US homes. Many models however provide only 2-wire 120VAC output. With such models, for 120/240 VAC connection you would need to buy two inverters and stack them with paralleled inputs and series-connected outputs. The junction between two inverters would become neutral. Also note that some models do not have a bulky 60Hz output transformer. They either provide isolation in a high-frequency converter stage or don't have a transformer at all. A GRID TIE INVERTER FOR SOLAR SYSTEMS Operating a renewable energy system in parallel with an electric grid requires special grid-interactive orgrid tie inverters (GTI). The power processing circuits of a GTI are similar to that of a conventional portablepower inverter. The main differences are in their control algorithm and safety features. A GTI basically takes a variable DC voltage from the source, such as solar panels array or a wind system, and inverts it to AC synchronized with the mains. It can provide power to your loads and feed an excess of the electricity into the grid. Depending on power and voltage levels, GTIs circuits normally have one to three stages. The simplified schematic

diagram below illustrates the principles of operation of a threestage grid tie inverter. Such power train can be useful for lowvoltage inputs (such as 12V). The control circuits and various details are not shown here.

The DC input voltage is first raised by the boost converter formed with inductor L1, MOSFET Q1, diode D1 and capacitor C2. If PV array is rated for more than 50V, one of the input DC busses has to be grounded per National Electric Code Article 690. Usually a negative bus is connected to earth. Note that output AC conductors in utility-interactive configurations should not be grounded. In our example, a galvanic isolation between the input and output is provided by a high frequency transformer in the second conversion stage. This stage is a basically a pulse-width modulated DC-DC converter. The schematic above shows a full bridge (also known as H-bridge) converter in the second stage. For power levels under 1000 watt it could also use a half-bridge or a forward converter (for more details see SMPS topologies). Some commercial models use low-frequency output transformer instead of a high frequency one in a DC-DC stage. With such method input DC

voltage is converted to 60 Hz AC, and then a LF transformer changes it to the required level and provides isolation. The designs with output transformer have larger weight and size, but they will not inject a direct current into the load. Here is a little known detail: UL 1741 allows transformeless inverters and exempts them from dielectric voltage withstand test between input and output circuits. Therefore the isolating stage can be eliminated. Such transformerless inverters feature lower weight and cost. They are especially popular in Europe. However, because of the lack of the galvanic isolation between the DC and AC, these models present potential electrical hazards if a person touches a terminal of a PV panel or the battery. The transformer T1 can be a so-called step-up type to amplify the input voltage. With a step-up type T1, the first stage (boost converter) may be omitted. However, high turns ratio leads to large leakage inductance. This in turn causes voltage spikes on the FETs and rectifiers as well as other undesirable effects. The regulated converter provides a DC-link voltage to the output AC inverter. Its value must be higher than the peak of the utility AC voltage. For example, for 120VAC service, the Vdc should be >120*2=168V. Typical numbers are 180-200V. For 240VAC you would need 350-400 V. The third conversion stage turns DC into AC by using another full bridge converter. It consists of IGBT Q6-Q9 and LC-filter L3, C4.

The IGBTs Q6-Q9 work as electronic switches that operate in PWM mode. They usually contain internal ultrafast anti-parallel diodes. By controlling different switches in the H-bridge, a positive, negative, or zero voltage can be applied across inductor L3. The output LC filter reduces high frequency harmonics to produce a sinewave voltage. A grid tie power source has to synchronize its frequency, phase and amplitude with the utility and feed a sinewave current into the load. Note that if inverter output voltage (Vout) is higher than utility voltage, the GTI will be overloaded. If it is lower, GTI would sink current rather than source it. In order to allow a limited current flow into the loads as well as back into the grid, "Vout" has to be just slightly higher than the utility AC voltage. Usually there is an additional inductor (Lgrid) between GTE output the grid that "absorbs" extra AC voltage. It also reduces the current harmonics generated by the PWM. A drawback of "Lgrid" is it introduces extra poles in the control loop, which may lead to the system instability. Because the grid acts as a source with a very low impedance, the GTE normally works as a current source, rather than a voltage source. In solar applications, to maximize the system efficiency, a GTI also has to meet certain requirements defined by the photovoltaic panels. Solar panels provide different power in different points of their volt-ampere (V-I) characteristic. The point in the V-I curve where output power is maximum is called

maximum power point (MPP). The solar inverter must assure that the PV modules are operated near their MPP. This is accomplished with a special control circuit in the first conversion stage called MPP tracker(MPPT). A GTI also has to provide so-called anti-islanding protection. When grid fails or when utility voltage level or frequency goes outside of acceptable limits, the automatic switch SW quickly disconnects the system output from the line. The clearing time depends on the mains conditions and is specified by UL 1741. In the worse cases, when utility voltage drops below 0.5 of nominal, or its frequency deviates by +0.5 or -0.7 Hz from the rated value, GTI should cease to export power back to the grid in less than 100 milliseconds. The implementation of control algorithm of grid tie inverters is quite complex and is normally done with microcontrollers. The hobbyists are often searching the web for the complete schematic of a grid tie inverter. Unfortunately, it is almost a fruitless task- a GTI is not a hobbyist project. Also note, it may be illegal to connect any non-UL approved power generator into the grid-connected wiring. In any case, the manufactures of GTIs obviously will not reveal the details of their designs. Even if you could find a complete schematic, it would be useless without the controller source code. The only complete design information for hobbyists with a source code that I found online was a 100W home brewed GTI. I made no attempt to review this design though. For engineers, there is an application note AN3095 by ST Micro. It provides a complete solar inverter circuit diagram and design guide for a 3000 watt photovoltaic inverter.