Comparative Performance Evaluation of Multiport DC/AC Inverters for Distributed Generation Applications

Nowadays, renewable energy sources (RES) in combination with power systems having the capability of storing electric energy are increasingly used in distributed generation applications. Multiport DC/AC inverters are required for the integration of RESs and energy storage systems with the electric grid and local loads. Recently, a variety of multiport DC/AC inverter topologies have been reported in the literature. In this paper, a comparative study of various alternative non-isolated DC/AC three-port converter (TPC) topologies is performed, when they are used as the power electronic interface between photovoltaic arrays, battery energy storage units and the electric grid/load. This study focuses on the performance of these topologies in terms of the leakage ground current and the battery ripple current during charging and discharging in distributed generation systems. A comparative performance evaluation of the alternative multiport DC/AC inverter topologies has been performed in Matlab/Simulink for the case of a 2 kW distributed energy system and the simulation results are presented.