A Novel Three-Phase Five-Level Inverter Control and Its Performance Analysis for a Grid-Connected Solar PV Power System

In this paper, a novel three-phase five-level diode clamped inverter topology has been proposed and the control operation has been utilized to demonstrate the performance of a grid-connected solar PV power system. The entire work has been simulated in MATLAB/Simulink environment. In this model, the maximum power point (MPP) of the solar PV source (DC side) is fed as input to the five-level inverter for AC side analysis. The proposed inverter is subjected to hysteresis control algorithm introduced for its switching operation. A Synchronous Reference Frame—Phase Locked Loop (SRF—PLL) topology is used to synchronize the inverter with the grid. The performance of the solar PV system is analyzed under the influence of a practical irradiance profile. The simulation model shows very good accuracy in tracking the reference current at the grid end. The proposed model performance has been validated by a grid-connected 170 kWp solar PV power plant.