Grid Unified Solar System With Composite Energy Storage for Green Computing Utilization

Abstract

In this research paper a solar PV system unified with the grid and integrated with composite energy storage is presented. Driving the data centre loads from power generated by renewables is one of the green computing practices which can effectively reduce carbon footprints. However, the grid unified solar PV-based power generator is susceptible to load voltage fluctuations and harmonic contamination in the injected grid current. Incorporation of composite energy storage with the power generator can alleviate the load voltage fluctuation due to changes in irradiance or during peaking loads. Combination of both battery and supercapacitor can provide adequate power and energy density to cater to this requirement. The focus of the research effort is to develop an effective power management strategy to regulate the power trade between the solar PV generator, energy storage devices, load, and the grid. The objective of the proposed strategy is to sustain fixed voltage across the data centre loads in case of changes in solar insolation level and also mitigate the injected grid current harmonics. The proposed model with the control scheme is validated by simulation as well as hardware-in-loop simulation results employing real-time digital simulator.