Solar Lattice

Measurement

Grid voltage rise with power

ID
meas:grid-voltage-rise-with-power
IRI
https://solarlattice.org/kb/meas/grid-voltage-rise-with-power
Status
active
Also known as
VRise, AC line voltage rise, rise-in-voltage

When a PV system feeds net power into the grid, the voltage at its connection point goes up in proportion to the power injected. The pattern is hard to see on a small system. It becomes visible when the system is large compared with feeder demand, or when many systems in an area share one feeder. Plotting relative voltage rise against system yield gives a virtual grid impedance. A steep slope means the feeder has high resistance or already carries a lot of PV, and the method assumes unity power factor with no reactive power supplied. Some of the rise can come from the site's own wiring between the inverter and the grid connection, mainly because of a long run to the point of common coupling or undersized conductors. If the voltage passes the inverter's overvoltage setting, the inverter disconnects and the voltage drops. After the reconnection time the inverter restarts and the voltage climbs again, and it can take seconds, minutes or longer before the next trip. Some inverters log a grid incident and disconnect when the grid voltage or grid impedance at their connection point is too high. This links the signature to high grid impedance. Some inverters can limit voltage rise by supplying reactive power and cutting active power once the output voltage passes a set level. This can avoid a disconnection.

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Signals

Monitoring channels where this signature appears, named by SunSpec model point.

PointUnitPattern
model_103.PhVphAVAC phase voltage climbs as exported power rises, approaching the overvoltage limit at high output
model_103.WWHigh AC power coincides with the highest grid voltage, followed by a sudden trip to zero

Referenced by

Data