Investigation of a family of power conditioners integrated into a utility grid: final report Category I

Technical Report · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6352460· OSTI ID:6352460

Wood, P.; Putkovich, R. P.

A study was conducted of the requirements for and technologies applicable to power conditioning equipment in residential solar photovoltaic systems. A survey of companies known or thought to manufacture power conditioning equipment was conducted to asses the technology. Technical issues regarding ac and dc interface requirements were studied. A baseline design was selected to be a good example of existing technology which would not need significant development effort for its implementation. Alternative technologies are evaluated to determine which meet the baseline specification, and their costs and losses are evaluated. Areas in which cost improvements can be obtained are studied, and the three best candidate technologies--the current-sourced converter, the HF front end converter, and the programmed wave converter--are compared. It is concluded that the designs investigated will meet, or with slight improvement could meet, short term efficiency goals. Long term efficiency goals could be met if an isolation transformer were not required in the power conditioning equipment. None of the technologies studied can meet cost goals unless further improvements are possible. (LEW)

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6352460
• Report Number(s): SAND-81-7030; ON: DE81029394
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140600* -- Solar Energy-- Photovoltaic Power Systems
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT INTERFACES
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SUPPLIES
POWER CONDITIONING CIRCUITS
POWER SUPPLIES
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPECIFICATIONS
SURVEYS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT