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New requirements for grid-connected PV inverters

Since mid-May, a new UNE report has been available in the Aenor catalog that specifies the requirements to be met by photovoltaic inverters connected to the Spanish distribution network. Its specific title is: UNE 206007-1 IN Requirements for connection to the electrical grid, part 1: inverters for connection to the distribution network.

This report is the result of the document drafted in Working Group C of the Spanish Subcommittee CTN 206/SC 82 “Solar Photovoltaic Energy”, coordinated by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. The Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF); the technology centers Cener and Tecnalia; inverter manufacturers such as Danfos, Jema, Fronius, GPTech, Ingeteam; Kostal, SMA, Sputnik Engineering, Zigor; laboratories such as Barlovento Recursos Naturales, SGS and Tecnalia, among others, have participated in the drafting of this document; consulting firms such as Eclareon; the system operator, Red Eléctrica Española (REE); electricity suppliers such as Endesa, Iberdrola and Gas Natural Fenosa; and universities such as the Polytechnic University of Madrid, the University of Seville and the Carlos III University of Madrid.

This new UNE Report aims to summarize the technical requirements that inverters must meet in order to cont Many of the requirements refer to international standards, while others are defined in this document for the first time as a result of experience with generating plants, such as photovoltaic plants.

The aim of this UNE Report is to provide the minimum requirements to be met by inverters in installations connected to the public distribution network. This UNE report can be used by distribution companies or the administration as a basis to be certain that the connection of compliant inverters to the public distribution grid will not cause any negative effects.

The technical requirements covered in this report are based on the following aspects: DC grid feed-in, insulation fault behaviour, PV generator fault current detection, peak current test, instantaneous current variation test, voltage and frequency disconnection, automatic reclosing, islanding detection, overvoltage generation, grid quality and out-of-sync reclosing.

The second part of this report is currently being drafted, which will include a set of technical requirements focused on inverter generation facilities which, added to the UNE 206007-1 IN report, will contribute to the security and guarantee of supply of the Spanish electricity system.

This set of requirements “are focused on allowing, while maintaining the security of the electricity system as a whole, the growth of the integration of generation sources whose production is supplied to the grid through electronic inverters that are connected to an electrical system of an eminently synchronous nature in terms of behaviour during disturbances and the nature of the mechanisms used for frequency and voltage control”, explains Vicente Salas ( vicente.salas@uc3m.es), coordinator of Working Group C “Networked Systems”, and member of the Department of Electronic Technology of the University Carlos III of Madrid.

Fuente: energias-renovables