Steady-State Model and Power Flow Analysis of Grid-
Connected Photovoltaic Power System
Wang Yi-Bo, Wu Chun-Sheng, Liao Hua and Xu Hong-Hua
Renewable Energy Generation Group, Institute of Electrical Engineering, CAS
No.6, Bei’ertiao, Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing, 100080, China
wyb@mail.iee.ac.cn
Abstract—the power flow analysis of a power grid
containing photovoltaic (PV) generating system is the
foundation of studying steady-state characteristics of large-
scale PV power station integrating into power grid. Generally,
PV systems are coupled by power electronic converters. Thus,
the steady-state modeling can be based on PV array
characteristics and principles of power electronic transforms.
The model in this paper can simulate steady-state operations
of PV systems in condition of giving meteorological, PV
system and power grid parameters. Moreover, the alternative
and iterative method is used to obtain the unified solution of
the model and power flow equations. Being compared with the
actual PV station, analytical results indicate that the
simulating error during noon time is very small and errors
during morning and evening are relatively great. Also,
variations of meteorological and power grid parameters will
effect the system operation, but the irradiance is the greater
one and the grid voltage variation has little effect. The power
flow analysis is verified on IEEE 30-bus system, and PV power
station can act as not only a PQ node, but a PV node which
can supply reactive power to support voltage profiles.
Index Terms-- Large-scale photovoltaic generation, power
flow analysis, grid-connected PV generation, steady-state
model, voltage-source converter (VSC)
I. INTRODUCTION
Solar irradiance is a kind of wide distributed and huge
reserved renewable energy, and photovoltaic (PV) power
generation is the technology for directly converting solar
irradiance into electricity. With the gradual development of
technology and reducing of PV system cost, PV generation
has more significant social and economic benefits, and
many countries prefer the development of PV generation as
an important strategy for coping with lack of fossil fuel and
improving the environment. Large-scale PV generation has
been considered as an important new alternative energy in
the 21st century’s energy structure [1-3].
Modeling for grid-connected PV system is the
foundation of studying operating characteristics of large-
scale PV power station accessing to power grid. There are
three types of PV system models: model based on
characteristics of PV array [4-6], model based on
characteristics of specific inverter structure [7-10] and
978-1-4244-1706-3/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE.
overall PV system model [11-13]. The first model mainly
considers characteristics of PV array and some
approximations are applied to other components.
Therefore, it is usually used in the less accurate
performance analysis like economic analysis. The second
model focuses on charactering the converter used in PV
systems, which has a specific topology. The third model
combines all the components together, including PV arrays
and converters, to character the overall system, with a
reasonable approximation for components, and the model is
much convenient for interacting with the traditional power
flow analysis [11] to achieve steady-state operating status
of power grid and PV system.
This paper proposes a steady-state model of PV system,
and thereby, achieves a method of power flow analysis for
the power grid containing PV power stations. PV systems
always interface power grid via power electronic converters.
So, a PV system can be modeled by direct current (DC)
part, inverter part and alternative current (AC) part, and
these parts are combined together through the principle of
instantaneous power balance and the principle of power
electronic transformation. Integrated with specific control
strategies, the model can simulate steady-state operation of
PV systems. Then, the alternate and iterative method is
suitable for solving power flow equations and PV system
models. In model analysis section, the model and the
measured data of an actual PV power station are compared
and analyzed. Finally, the power flow method is verified on
IEEE 30-bus power system.
II. STEADY-STATE MODEL OF GRID-CONNECTED
PV GENERATION SYSTEM
Figure 1 is the diagram of the grid-connected three-phase
PV system, and the system can be viewed as a composition
of DC part, inverter part and three-phase AC part, in which
only one phase is shown. The DC part includes PV arrays,
the cable resistance RDC and the capacitance C. However,
the value of RDC is small enough to be ignored, so it can be
approximated that UDC equals to UPV. The three-phase half-
bridge inverter circuit and sinusoidal pulse width
 modulation (SPWM) are applied in inverter part, and M
and Į represent the amplitude modulation ratio and the
phase shift angle, respectively. The resistance R is used to
approximately calculate power loss of inverter. The AC
part includes a step-up transformer and a filter, of which Lf
and Cf represent the inductance and the capacitance of the
filter, respectively. The step-up transformer is figured as ī-
equivalent circuit, and RT, XT, GT and BT represent the
resistance, the reactance, the conductance and the
susceptance, respectively. The voltage amplitude of the
point of common coupling (PCC), Ug, is counted into low-
voltage side of transformer.

I PV RDC Si R + jω L f RT + jX T Sg

1 1
U PV C U DC M ∠α U i U g = U g ∠θ g
jωC f GT − jBT

Fig.1. Grid-connected photovoltaic generation system

PV modules, and Npp is the parallel number of PV module

A. DC part model
strands.
Following the above approximation, the model of DC part
­U PV = N s N ssVcell
only refers to the model of PV array. The model of PV cell °
can be characterized by I-V equation, and I-V equation ® I PV = N pp I cell (3)
represented in the five-parameter model is shown as equation °
¯ PPV = U PV I PV
(1).
V +I R V +I R B. Inverter part model
I cell = I L − Io [exp( cell cell s ) − 1] − cell cell s (1)
a Rsh The three-phase half-bridge inverter and SPWM are applied
Icell and Vcell are the current and the voltage of PV cell, in inverter part model here. The voltage of fundamental wave
respectively. Given the meteorological parameters, the I-V of phase-A is shown in equation (4). The voltages of phase-B
curve can be determined uniquely. There are five parameters: and phase-C are equal to voltage of phase-A, and there have a
the light current IL, the diode reverse saturation current Io, the phase angle shift of 120º among them.
series resistance Rs, the shunt resistance Rsh, and the modified 2
ideality factor a. These parameters depend on solar irradiance, U i = U i ∠α =
MU PV ∠α (4)
4
the cell surface temperature and the optical air mass. Usually, Based on the principle of instantaneous power balance, the
the operating data of commercial PV module under standard real power exported by invert part is equal to the DC power
test condition (STC, which means irradiance of 1000W/m2, under system steady-state operation.
cell temperature of 25ć and AM1.5) are provided. Pi = PPV (5)
Accordingly, the parameters of the model under STC can be
calculated, and thereby, the model parameters under arbitrary C. AC part model
conditions can be achieved by modifying the STC value. The For the convenience of calculation, the AC circuit is
five-parameter model [14] has high practicality and accuracy. transformed using the series-parallel and Y/ǻ equivalent
The differential of PV cell power to PV cell voltage is zero transformation shown in fig. 2. The power exported by
at the maximum power point (MPP), so the voltage Vmpp and inverter part and the power exported by PV system are as
current Impp at MPP can be solved by nonlinear equations (1) follows:
and (2).
d (VI ) dI
ªU U
Pi = 3U i « i cos ϕ12 + i cos ϕ13 −
Ug
( )º
cos θ g − α − ϕ12 » (6)
mpp = I mpp + V mpp mpp ¬ z12 z13 z12 ¼
dV dV

− I o R sh exp(
V mpp + I mpp R s
)−a
ª Ui U
Qi = 3U i « sin ϕ12 + i sin ϕ13 +
U g
( )º
sin θ g − α − ϕ12 » (7)
¬ z12 z13 z12 ¼
= I mpp + V mpp a (2)
aR sh + I o R s R sh exp(
V mpp + I mpp R s
) + aR s
ªU
( )
Pg = 3U g « i cos α − θ g − ϕ12 −
Ug
cosϕ12 −
Ug º
cos ϕ23 » (8)
a ¬ z12 z12 z23 ¼
=0
The PV module is composed of PV cells in series, and PV
ª Ui
(
Qg = 3U g « sin α − θ g − ϕ12 + )
Ug
sin ϕ12 +
Ug º
sin ϕ23 » (9)
¬ z12 z12 z23 ¼
modules in series-parallel connection can form the PV array.
The voltage UPV, the current IPV and the power PPV of the PV
array can be calculated by (3), in which Ns is the series
number of PV cell in a PV module, Nss is the series number of
 of PV system into power flow analysis. Therefore, it is an
Si = Pi + jQi Sg = Pg + jQg iterative process to determine state variables of PV systems
z12 ∠ϕ12 and power grid. Unified method or alternate method can be
used for solving power flow equations and PV system model.
The alternate method has the benefit of lower dimensioned
U i z13∠ϕ13 z23∠ϕ 23 U g matrix and better reflection of the solution nature.

Fig.2. Equivalent transformation of AC circuit

D. Application and constraints of the model

This model is deduced under precondition of the steady-
state operation of PV systems, and model parameters include
meteorological parameters, PV system structural parameters,
voltage amplitude and phase angle at PCC determined by the
power flow analysis. There are nine unknown variables of
model, including M, Į, UPV, PPV, Ui, Pi, Qi, Pg and Qg, and
only seven independent equations (1), (4~9), so for solving
these variables, additional independent equations are needed
and/or some variables should be given. Considering the actual
and the possible operation modes of grid-connected PV
system, three cases are discussed here:
(1) The PV system applies MPPT strategy and unit power
factor. This is the typical application of PV system at present.
In this mode, (2) is added and Qg is set to zero. Then, UPV and
PPV can be carried out by (1) to (3), and consequently, other
variables can be solved by (4) to (9).
(2) The PV system applies MPPT strategy and exports a
certain amount of reactive power. In this mode, the PV system
can provide reactive power and voltage support for power grid.
When PV power station acts as a PQ node, the value of Qg is
pre-determined; when acts as a PV node, the value of Qg is
determined by power flow. The solution method is the same as
the first mode.
(3) The PV system does not apply MPPT strategy. Then, it
will add equations and/or give variable values based on
specific control strategy. This mode will not be considered in
the following power flow analysis. Fig.3. Iteration algorithm of power flow analysis of power system with
The operation of PV system should meet the following photovoltaic generation system
constraints: Fig. 3 shows Iteration algorithm of power flow analysis of
(1) Rated capacity constraint: the apparent power of PV power system with PV generation system:
system must not exceed the rated value of SN, and it may also Step 1, Ug is set to the rated value, Qg is set to zero, and Pg
be converted into the reactive power constraint in application: achieved by PV system model acts as the initial value of real
Q g2 ≤ S N2 − Pg2 (10) power injected into power gird by PV system;
(2) Voltage constraints: voltages of both DC bus and AC Step 2, traditional power flow analysis is performed to
bus should be within the permitted range of normal operation; achieve values of Ug, Qg and șg;
(3) Modulation ratio M: which depends on the inverter Step 3, solve PV system model by substituting Ug, Qg and
modulation strategy, the value of M in traditional SPWM șg to achieve other variables;
ranges from 0 to 1, but in some special modulation, it can be Step 4, repeat Step 2 and Step 3 until convergence
greater than one. condition and all of constraints are met.
When MPPT strategy is applied, the real power of PV
III. POWER FLOW ANALYSIS OF A POWER GRID WITH system depends mainly on weather conditions and can not be
PV GENERATION SYSTEM scheduled. So, the reactive power constraint is also varying
with the weather conditions. However, the reactive power
Only if solar irradiance, cell temperature and voltage of must satisfy its constraint at anytime, regardless that PV
PCC are known, control variables and state variables of PV system act as a PQ or a PV node.
system and power grid can be carried out. On the other hand,
voltage of PCC is achieved by substituting the exported power
 IV. MODEL ANALYSIS is 1.2%, the relative error of PV arrays’ voltage is 1% and the
In this section, the model and the measured data of an relative error of real power exported by PV power station is
actual grid-connected PV power station is compared under 2.1%. From 12:00 to 14:00, relative error of PV arrays’ power
clear sky condition and cloudy sky condition. Moreover, is less than 5%, and relative error of real power is less than
effects of irradiance and PCC voltage on operation of PV 5.7%. The model values of PV arrays’ power and the real
station are analyzed. The rated capacity of the PV power power are less than measured data in morning and greater in
station is 100kWp, the inclined angle of PV arrays is 23º and evening. However, the relative error of PV arrays’ voltage is
the rated phase voltage of PCC at low-voltage side is 110V. maintained in a range of -1% to +3% in the whole daytime.
The PV power station applies MPPT strategy and unit power
factor. Model parameters are shown in Table I, and the time TABLE I
MODEL PARAMETERS OF THE PV POWER STATION SAMPLE
scale of measured data is five minutes. UNDER STC
Model
A. PV system Model Validation parameters of
IL=4.085A, IO=7.008×10-7A, a=0.0392,
Rs=0.0053ȍ, Rsh=2750ȍ, Ns=72, Nss=11, Npp=56
The model and measured data is compared under clear sky PV array
condition in Fig.4, which shows similar trends of their curves. Model Lf=250μH, Cf=450μF, R=0.001ȍ,
parameters of RT=0.00321ȍ, XT=0.01023ȍ,
The peak irradiance of 1013.8W/m2 appears on 13:28 Beijing AC part GT=0.01524S, BT=0.05194S
Time. At that moment, the relative error of PV arrays’ power

Fig.4. Comparison between model and measured data under clear sky condition

Fig.5. Comparison between model and measured data under cloudy sky condition

The model and measured data is also compared under their curves too. The peak irradiance of 1237.1W/m2 appears
cloudy sky condition in Fig.5, which shows similar trends of on 14:25 Beijing Time. At that moment, the relative error of
PV arrays’ power is -0.65%, the relative error of PV arrays’
voltage is -2% and the relative error of real power exported by
PV power station is -0.0024%. From 11:00 to 15:00, relative
errors of both PV arrays’ power and the real power are less
than 10%, and they are greater in morning and evening.
However, the relative error of PV arrays’ voltage is maintained
in a range of -4.5% to +15% in the whole daytime.
From above comparisons, results from both the model and
the measured data have the same trends. The model has more
accuracy during noon time, but less accuracy in morning and
evening. Deviations probably come from four ways: 1) ignore
differences of efficiency and characteristics among individual
PV components; 2) ignore the orientation effects of practical
PV array on available irradiance; 3) ignore the environmental
shadow effects; 4) errors from measure apparatuses.
B. Effects of Irradiance on the operation of PV system
The irradiance is the main factor effecting PV array power,
so that the system operation status will vary with irradiance
change. Applying the PCC rated voltage and meteorological
parameters under STC, the operation status of PV power
station is achieved by model with irradiance varying from 0 to
1200W/m2, shown in fig.6. Control variables of M and Į are
adjusted following irradiance to realize MPPT function and
unit power factor. The real power of Pg has a linear increment
with irradiance and is slightly less than PPV. The reactive power
of Qg is zero. A certain amount of reactive power of Qi is
exported by inverter circuit to meet the reactive need in the PV
system, and it has a nonlinear increment with irradiance
increasing.
Fig.6. Effects of Irradiance on operation status of PV system
C. Effects of PCC voltage on the operation of PV system
The PCC voltage amplitude is the main factor at power grid
side. Applying meteorological parameters under STC, the
operation status of PV power station is achieved by model with
PCC voltage varying around its rated value within ± 10%,
shown in fig.7. Control variables of M and Į are adjusted
following Ug to realize MPPT function and unit power factor.
With Ug increasing, values of PPV and Qg keep constant, and
the slight increment of Pg can be ignored. The reactive power
of Qi decreases with Ug increasing.
Fig.7. Effects of Ug on operation status of PV system
V. APPLICATION EXAMPLES
In this section, the power flow analysis algorithm presented
in section III is verified on IEEE 30-bus test power system. The
No.5 node of the test system is the PCC of the PV power
station mentioned above. The test system has two
modifications: parameters of PCC are set according to the
example; the maximum generating reactive power injected into
PCC, excluding PV power station, is set to 27MVar. Under
condition of irradiance of 800W/m2 and other meteorological
parameters as STC, there are three examples to be verified:1)
the PCC acts as a PQ node, and the reactive power of Qg is
zero, which means the PV power station does not participate in
grid voltage regulation; 2) the PCC acts as a PV node, of which
voltage is set to 1.001p.u., and PV power station participates in
grid voltage regulation ; 2) the PCC acts as a PV node, of
which voltage is set to 1.002p.u., and PV power station
participates in grid voltage regulation.
In the first example, the iterative process converges at the
end of the first round and none of operating parameters
override their constraints, shown in Table II. In the second
example, the iterative process also converges at the end of the
first round, and the ceiling value of Qg is 59.1kVar, which is
solved by (10), so there is no operating parameter overriding,
shown in Table III. The third example is used to test the
overriding situation. The iterative process also converges at the
end of the first round, but there is a need for Qg of 1002.7kVar
in order to maintain voltage of PCC at 1.002p.u, which far
exceeds the ceiling constraint of 60.6kVar. Then, change node
type of PCC into a PQ node with setting Qg to its ceiling value
and start the next iteration. When the second iteration ends,
none of constraints is overridden.
TABLE II
OPERATING PARAMETERS OF PCC AND PV GENERATION SYSTEM
OF THE FIRST EXAMPLE
Operating parameters of
Operating parameters of PV system
PCC
M= 0.8192, Į= -2.8736º, PPV=82006W,
V5=1.000978p.u.
UPV=388.4V, Ui= 112.5V, Pi= 82006W,
ș5= -14.0525º
Qi= 12782Var, Pg= 80687W, Qg= 0Var
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electronic converter has a bright application future in power
grid. The steady-state model of the three-phase grid-connected
VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
PV system can be modeled separately by DC part, inverter part
and AC part. The interfaces between each part are only based Wang Yi-bo was born in 1977. He is now pursuing Ph. D degree in Institute of
Electrical Engineering, CAS, China. His special interest includes power system
on the principle of instantaneous power balance and the planning and renewable energy generating techniques.
principle of power electronics transformation. The
independency among these parts makes it easy to extend to Wu Chun-sheng was born in 1980. He is now pursuing Ph. D degree in
other topological PV systems. Institute of Electrical Engineering, CAS, China. His special interest includes
renewable energy generating techniques.
From the comparison and analysis, the PV system model
can well simulate the steady-state operation of an actual PV Liao Hua was born in 1976. He is now pursuing Ph. D degree in Institute of
power station. Irradiance has a greater effect on the operation Electrical Engineering, CAS, China. His special interest includes renewable
of PV power station and the PCC voltage has a smaller effect. energy generating techniques.
Results from simulation on IEEE 30-bus system show that the Xu Hong-hua was born in 1967. He is a professor in Institute of Electrical
PV power station can act not only a PQ node, but also as a PV Engineering, CAS, China. He is the chair of renewable energy generating
node. While as a PV node, the PV power station is required to group in IEE, CAS. His special interest includes wind and PV power planning
export reactive power to support grid voltage, but the support is and renewable energy generating techniques.
relatively limited due to the rated capacity and the real power
of PV power station.

VII. REFERENCES
[1] K. K., Komoto K., and Van Der Vleuten P. et al, “Energy from the
Desert: Practical Proposals for Very Large Scale Photovoltaic Power
Generation (VLS-PV) Systems”, Report IEA PVPS Task 8, London:
Earthscan, 2006.