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fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIA.2016.2626253, IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications
Emerging Power Quality Challenges Due to Integration of
Renewable Energy Sources
Xiaodong Liang
Senior Member, IEEE
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
St Johns, NL, Canada
E-mail: xliang@mun.ca
Tel: 1-709-864-2751
Abstract Renewable energy becomes a key contributor
to our modern society, but their integration to power grid
poses significant technical challenges. Power quality is an
important aspect of renewable energy integration. The major
power quality concerns are: 1) Voltage and frequency
fluctuations, which are caused by non-controllable variability
of renewable energy resources. The intermittent nature of
renewable energy resources due to ever-changing weather
conditions leads to voltage and frequency fluctuations at the
interconnected power grid. 2) Harmonics, which are
introduced by power electronic devices utilized in renewable
energy generation. When penetration level of renewable
energy is high, the influence of harmonics could be
significant. In this paper, an extensive literature review is
conducted on emerging power quality challenges due to
renewable energy integration. The paper consists of two
sections: 1) Power quality problem definition. Wind turbines
and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and their power quality
issues are summarized. 2) Existing approaches to improve
power quality. Various methods are reviewed, and the control
technology based power quality improvement is the major
focus of the paper. The future research directions for
emerging power quality challenges for renewable energy
integration are recommended.
Keywords Electric Energy Storage, Frequency Control,
Harmonics Mitigation, Power Quality, Renewable Energy
Integration, Voltage Control
I. INTRODUCTION
Renewable energy such as wind turbines and solar
photovoltaic (PV) systems use natural resources and
provide desirable green energy. The penetration of
renewable energy is increasing worldwide. It was reported
in 2014 that wind, solar and biomass power plants provided
60% electricity generation in Denmark; about 30% of
electricity demand in Portugal was supplied by non-
hydropower renewable; Spain had 29% renewable energy
generation. The advancement in renewable energy is
exciting but also creates significant technical challenges to
power industry [1, 2].
Our traditional power generation system is designed with
large, centrally controlled power plants. Renewable energy,
however, is distributed, independently controlled, and
intermittent. Therefore, adapting power grid to operate
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reliably with renewable energy sources can be very
complicated. How to increase flexibility and reliability,
improve energy efficiency and power quality for
tomorrows smart grid are important considering the
potential huge investment over next decades on maintaining
and expanding power grid to accommodate renewable
energy generation.
It was recognized that grid-connected renewable power
generation would introduce power quality issues to power
grid. From renewable energy side, renewable generation is
non-dispatchable, and intermittent with high fluctuations
due to varying nature of renewable energy resources. As
penetration level of renewable generation increases over
time, such high fluctuations create serious power quality
concerns. From power grid side, the grid side disturbances,
such as voltage sags caused by short circuit faults and
frequency variations due to load and generation change,
would interact with the interconnected renewable energy
sources, which creates more complicated and uncertain
operating conditions. Power quality, among many other
factors, appears to be one of the most important aspects that
could affect the overall stability and reliability of
tomorrows power grid [3].
Many research results about different power quality
challenges and solutions due to renewable energy
integration have been reported. As smart grid attracts more
attention from academia and industry, there is an urgent
need to summarize existing approaches and technologies in
order to better guide future research and engineering effort
in this important area. This paper aims to offer an extensive
literature review on emerging power quality challenges due
to integration of renewable energy sources into power gird.
The paper focuses on the control technology based power
quality improvement including virtual synchronous
machine (VSM) method (also known as virtual
synchronous generator (VSG) method) and virtual
impedance control method. The future research directions
are also recommended in the paper, which highlight major
areas with significant research potential.
The paper is arranged as follows: In Section II, power
quality issues related to integration of wind power and solar
PV generation are reviewed. The current start-of-art
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Transactions on Industry Applications

techniques for improving power quality using the control over the output range of generators. However, these
technology based approaches are summarized in Sections generators do not have the ability to control reactive power
III and IV, principles and applications for the virtual dynamically, static synchronous compensators
synchronous machine method for voltage and frequency (STATCOMS) or static var compensators (SVCs) are
control, and for the virtual impedance control method for usually needed to achieve reactive power compensation in
harmonic compensation are demonstrated in these sections. the collector system lines, transformers, and the point of
In Section V, the electric energy storage is particularly interconnection (POI). Type-3 and Type-4 wind turbine
reviewed, their role in power quality enhancement is generators can either absorb or generate reactive power, so
discussed. Conclusions are drawn and future research each generator follows a power factor reference that can be
directions are recommended in Section VI. adjusted by a plant-level supervisory controller dynamically
in order to achieve voltage control or reactive power control
II. POWER QUALITY ISSUES DUE TO INTEGRATION OF WIND at the POI. Faster-acting controls local to the generator can
AND SOLAR PV POWER GENERATION override the power factor reference to avoid exceeding
converter current and terminal voltage limits. Depending on
A. Wind Power individual wind power plant design, additional reactive
Wind power is produced by wind power plants. In the power support equipment may be added to meet connection
beginning of wind energy development, the size of a wind reactive power control and voltage ride-through
power plant was small ranging from under one megawatt to requirements especially for weak interconnections [6].
tens megawatts. In the past 40 years, its size has increased
significantly [4].
Wind power plants around the world had an estimated
installed capacity of 159 GW and produced 273 TWh of
electricity in 2009. This number includes both onshore and
offshore wind. The integration challenges presented may
differ between onshore and offshore wind power,
specifically for special transmission technologies for
offshore plants. The offshore segment mostly located in
Europe. Europes offshore wind capacity was 4 GW at the
end of 2011 [5].
The general configuration of a wind power plant is
shown in Fig. 1 (a) [5], a more detailed topology of a wind
power plant is shown in Fig. 1 (b) [6]. Comparing with
conventional power plants, wind power plants have
significantly different features, which are summarized in
Table 1 [6].
Usually a wind power plant can have two types of
presentations in power system modeling: 1) single turbine
presentation; 2) multi-turbine presentation [4, 6]. The single
turbine presentation is considered sufficient for power
system planning studies by Western Electricity (a)
Coordinating Council (WECC) [6]. However, further
studies in [4] indicate that a large wind power plant should
be modeled by multiple wind turbines, which represent the
unique characteristics of the location, turbine types, control
setting, and line impedances. In a multi-turbine
presentation, a wind power plant is divided into several
groups of wind turbines, and the wind speed is considered
uniform for each group. There are smoothing effect for
power and voltage fluctuation when multi-turbine
presentation is used, which more closely represents a real
wind power plant [4]. The wind power plant representation
remains to be an active research area [6].
Regarding reactive power compensation, because Type-
1 and Type-2 wind turbine generators are induction
generators, capacitors are added at the generator terminals (b)
to correct power factor. Several capacitor stages can be Fig. 1 A wind power plant: (a) general configuration [5]; (b) more detailed
used to maintain steady-state power factor close to unity typical topology [6]

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TABLE I
COMPARISON BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND WIND POWER PLANTS [6]
Conventional Power Plant Wind Power Plant
Topology One or a few large generating units, each unit could Typically hundreds of small generators deployed over a large area, each
be rated at 40MW to 1000MW+ unit could be rated at 1MW to 5MW
Prime mover Steam, gas, hydro turbines or combustion engines Wind turbines
Dispatch Dispatchable, maneuverable between maximum Non-dispatchable, limited maneuverability (curtailment, ramp rate limit,
and minimum limits output limit)
Real power Units have speed governors and are typically Real power follows the wind speed variation
control capable of automatic generation control (AGC).
Reactive Units are equipped with an automatic voltage Reactive power is managed at the plant level, through coordinated control
power control regulator, typically set for voltage control. of wind turbine control and/or plant level reactive compensation.
Location Located where convenient for fuel and transmission Located where the wind resource is good, may be far from load centers or
access strong transmission
Generator Synchronous generators Type 1 - Fixed-speed, induction generator;
Type 2 - variable slip, induction generators with variable rotor resistance;
Type 3 - variable speed, doubly-fed asynchronous generators with rotor-
side converter;
Type 4 - variable speed generators with full converter interface, a
generator can be induction, synchronous or permanent magnet generator.

mechanical inertia, therefore, PV power plants do not have

B. Solar PV Power
inherent inertial or frequency response capabilities [7].
Grid-connected solar PV power can be generated by
either solar PV power plants, or residential or commercial C. Power Quality Issues
PV systems. Solar PV power plants are large generation Power quality issues for renewable energy integration
facilities, and some of them exceeding 100 MW. These refer to: 1) voltage and frequency fluctuations, which are
large power plants are connected to transmission systems. caused by non-controllable variability of renewable energy
However, most PV systems are residential (up to several resources and also by power grid side disturbances, and 2)
kW) and commercial scale (up to several MW) connected harmonics, which are introduced by power electronic
to distribution networks [7]. converters used in renewable energy generation. As defined
Solar PV systems had 22 GW of global capacity and by IEEE std. 929 -2000, voltage, voltage flicker, frequency,
generated 20 TWh of electricity in 2009 [5]. It is stated in and distortion are four major parameters used to evaluate
[5] that though solar PV generation capacity is much power quality in PV systems. Deviation from standard
smaller than wind power capacity, it is expected to grow at values for these parameters represents out-of-bounds
a faster pace than wind over the next several decades. By conditions. The inverter may be required to ceases
2013, 138.9 GW of PV had been installed globally, and the energizing utility lines in this case [10, 11].
growth between 2009 and 2013 was significant [8].
The general configuration of a solar PV power plant is
shown in Fig. 2 (a) [5], a more detailed topology of a solar
PV power plant is shown in Fig. 2 (b) [7]. The topology for
a residential solar PV system is shown in Fig. 3 [9].
Similar to wind power plants, WECC recommends a
single-generator equivalent model for PV power plants
connected to transmission systems, which is considered to
be adequate for bulk-level power flow and dynamic
simulations. For large number of PV systems connected to
distribution systems, the aggregated PV generation can be
represented by an equivalent generator at a transmission
bus, preferably behind an equivalent substation transformer
and medium voltage feeder [7]. The solar PV power plant
representation remains to be an active research area [7].
As shown in Fig. 2 (b), large PV power plants typically
have medium voltage radial feeders, and PV inverters are
connected to these feeders via step-up transformers with
several inverters sharing one step-up transformer.
Capacitors or other reactive support might be present in PV
power plants, and they work in conjunction with the
inverters to meet reactive power capability and control
requirements at the POI. Inverters have low short circuit (a)
current contribution, high-bandwidth controls, and lack of

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(b)
Fig. 2 A solar PV power plant: (a) a general configuration [5]; (b) a typical topology with control systems [7]

At a low penetration level, the power quality issue is at

device and local grid level, and the solution is usually device
specific. At a high penetration level, the grid-level technologies
and strategies are needed [3, 5]. It is vital to develop
appropriate control architecture and technologies so that
renewable energy are able to take part in the regulation of
future power systems in an autonomous and responsible way.

C.2 Power Grid Side

Fig. 3 A typical topology for a residential solar PV system [8]
C.1 Renewable Energy Side
Wind and solar PV power generation both experience
intermittency due to a combination of non-controllable
variability and partial unpredictability features of wind and
solar resources. A wind turbine needs wind to generate
electricity, and a solar PV system requires sunlight to operate.
When wind speeds and available sunlight vary, the output of
wind and solar power generation varies accordingly. The non-
controllable variability could result in voltage and frequency
fluctuations on the transmission system. Such power output
fluctuation requires additional energy to balance supply and
demand of the power grid on an instantaneous basis, and
requires frequency regulation and voltage support [5].
The availability of wind and sunlight is partially
unpredictable. However, such unpredictability can be improved
through improved weather and generation forecasting
technologies, which aim to predict weather and generation
output from wind and solar resources more accurately at
various timescales [5].
Another power quality issue that affects renewable energy
integration is due to power grid side disturbances. The power
grid-code requirements for grid-connected renewable power
plants have experienced a continuous evolution in different
countries to ensure a reliable power system operation.
According to several European grid-codes, PV power plants
must be able to ride through specific disturbances without
disconnections [11]. In 2014, IEEE standard 1547a released a
new definition for the voltage sag trip settings that would
allow the equipment to ride through during voltage sag. This
new definition allows a distributed generation not to trip if the
duration of voltage sags is between default settings and
maximum settings, and an agreement is met between the
distributed resource owner and the local utility. The
recommended settings from IEEE standard 1547a are shown
in Table II [12].
A power quality survey for three Spanish PV power plants
was carried out from 2008 to 2011 [11]. One PV power plant
had dual axistrackers with 1 MW capacity, two fixed array
PV power plants had 4 MW and 5 MW capacities. Voltage
sags were monitored using a commercial power quality
analyzer, and collected at the 20 kV high voltage side of the

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POI of the three PV power plants. The field measurements
took place from July 2008 to December 2011. Only PV power
plants and their ancillary loads are connected to the POI
during field measurements. The recorded 137 voltage sags are
shown in Table III [11]. It is found that 59% of the total
recorded voltage sags resulted in 0.8-0.9 pu residual voltages;
another 20% led to 0.7-0.8 pu residual voltage; while the rest
more severe voltage sags were distributed at various small
percentages forming the total case.
The control system for the PV inverter and energy storage
system can be designed to improve voltage level during
voltage sags due to power grid side disturbances, and thus,
improve PV power plants ride through capability. This can be
one of promising future research directions for renewable
energy integration.
TABLE II
IEEE STD.1547A-2014 INTERCONNECTION SYSTEM RESPONSES TO ABNORMAL
VOLTAGES [12]
TABLE III
THE RECORDED VOLTAGE SAGS FOR THREE PV POWER PLANTS [11]
III. VOLTAGE AND FREQUENCY FLUCTUATIONS
In a power system, voltage variation is related to reactive
power flow, while frequency variation is determined by the rate
of change in real power flow [4, 13]. The smoothing of voltage
and frequency fluctuations can thus be achieved through the
control of reactive power and real power, respectively.
A. Voltage Control
Reference [14] presents the classification of power quality
disturbances caused by change in load and environmental
characteristics (such as change in solar insolation and wind
speed). Various forms of voltage sag and swell occurrences
caused by such changes are considered in the study. Ten
different statistical features extracted through S-transform are
used in the classification step. The power quality disturbances
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based on statistical features are classified by use of three
machine learning techniques, modular probabilistic neural
network (MPNN), support vector machines (SVMs), and least
square support vector machines (LS-SVMs) [14].
The solar PV systems connected to the utility power grid do
not regulate voltage, but inject current into the power grid. The
voltage operating range for PV inverters is chosen for power
system protection that responds to abnormal utility conditions,
not for voltage regulation. When the current injection from PV
systems into the power grid has large quantity, they could
impact utility voltage: 1) If the PV current injection on a utility
line remains less than the load on that line, the utilitys voltage
regulation devices will continue to operate normally; 2) If the
PV current injection exceeds the load, the corrective action is
required, because voltage regulation devices do not normally
have directional current sensing capability. The appropriate
operating interconnection voltage range for solar PV system
can be set between 88% and 110% of the nominal voltage if no
operating voltage settings are specified by IEEE Std. 929-2000
[10].
For a wind power plant power system, IEC Standard 61400-
21 recommends that the 10-minute average of voltage
fluctuation should be within 5% of its nominal value [15].
A.1 Conventional Methods
The reactive power compensation is one effective method
for voltage control. Based on advanced power electronic
technologies and innovative designs, the flexible alternating
current transmission system (FACTS) equipment can be
applied to improve the capacity, stability and flexibility of AC
transmission, making it more capable of transmitting large-
capacity renewable generation. Thyristor controlled series
compensators (TCSCs) can be installed in transmission lines to
reduce electrical distance, increase damping and mitigate
system oscillation; a SVC, a STATCOM, or a controllable
shunt reactor (CSRs) can be shunt-installed on substation buses
to solve the reactive power compensation and voltage control
problems in renewable energy integration [4, 5, 16, 17].
A.2 Virtual Synchronous Machine Method
Conventional generation power plants can maintain and
regulate voltage and frequency during disturbances because a
synchronous generator stores large amount of kinetic energy
due to inertia, and this kinetic energy can be released or
absorbed to compensate imbalance in electrical and mechanical
power of the generator [18]. In a power grid, large rotational
masses of synchronous generators can provide significant
amount of inertia. When a frequency variation occurs in the
system, the inertial reserve of power system counter-acts the
initial frequency deviation before the primary reserve brings
the frequency back to a steady state value [19, 20]. Power
electronic inverters as interface between renewable energy and
utility power grid are static without any rotational energy,
which leads to negligible inertia. Therefore, extensive usage of
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these devices can reduce the equivalent rotational inertia of
power grid. Low moment of inertia of power grid degrades
frequency stability because frequency is inversely proportional
to the systems inertia, in this case, large frequency oscillations
could occur during severe disturbances [18, 21, 22].
To solve this problem and enhance power system stability,
the virtual synchronous machine (VSM) method was proposed
in order to reduce voltage and frequency fluctuations and
achieve renewable energy integration. This method was first
introduced by Beck and Hesse in 2007 as a new power
electronics based approach. It models grid-connected power
electronic based renewable energy generators as an
electromechanical synchronous machine. The fundamental
concept of the VSM, real power and reactive power flow
between the renewable energy source and power grid through
VSM are shown in Fig. 4 [23].
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4 VSM method: (a) fundamental concept [23]. (b) active power and
reactive power flow due to variations on local induced renewable generation
side (left) and voltage and frequency variation on the grid side (right) [23].
During the last decade, significant developments have been
made to operate power electronic converters as VSMs, which
offers a promising way for all distributed energy resources to
follow the same mechanism of conventional synchronous
machines. The principle of a VSM is based on combining
advantages of todays dynamic power electronic inverter
technology with those of static and dynamic operating
properties of synchronous machines. The goal is to control the
grid-interface converter of a distributed generator or an energy
storage in such a way that it acts like a real synchronous
machine [24, 25]. The properties of synchronous machines are
kept in this new modeling approach, including the interaction
between grid and generator such as a remote power dispatch,
reaction to transients, and a rotating mass [23].
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The energy storage is connected to the renewable generation
side of the VSM in Fig. 4 (a). The combination of renewable
energy and energy storage can change voltage, and thus, can
serve as the stator output of the virtual synchronous machine
[23].
The rotational virtual inertia is a critical aspect of the VSM.
It is recommended that the virtual inertia can be attained by
adding a short-term energy storage to any distributed
generation unit together with an intelligent control interface to
the grid [26, 27]. The corresponding block diagram for a VSM
implementation is shown in Fig. 5 (a). The emulation of the
mechanical inertia effect can also be approximately represented
by the synchronous machine per unit power balance in the
Laplace domain. A block diagram illustrating the swing
equation used for implementing the VSM, together with its
interface to the rest of the converter control system and to the
electric power system is shown in Fig. 5 (b) [28].
(a)
(b)
Fig. 5 Inertia emulation by virtual synchronous machines: (a) a block diagram
for a VSM implementation - virtual inertia attained by a short-term energy
storage [26, 27]. (b) virtual inertia attained by swing equation of synchronous
machines [28].
Behaving the same as a synchronous generator, the VSM
can handle active power and reactive power flow in both
directions as shown in Fig. 4 (b), it is caused either by
variations from renewable generation side or by demands/
disturbances from grid side [23].
Ref [25] shows the VSM control enhances power quality
and grid stability for distributed generation, which embodies a
hysteresis controlled three phase inverter with a synchronous
machine model. The VSM based control is able to regulate
active and reactive power separately and bi-directionally by
setting virtual torque and virtual excitation to meet the power
system requirements. Furthermore, a virtual rotating mass is
implemented in the VSM control in order to increase the inertia
in the grid and improve the transient frequency stability similar
to a conventional synchronous generator. The virtual damping
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of the VSM control can reduce the frequency and power
oscillation in the grid [25].
The combination of the reactive power compensation and
the VSM control is also investigated by researchers. A VSM
based STATCOM controller operating as synchronous
condenser is proposed in [24]. Virtual impedance and virtual
inertia are implemented in the proposed controller to make the
STATCOM operate as a variable synchronous condenser. With
virtual inertia, the STATCOM will naturally synchronize with
the grid accurately if there is any change in the frequency
without the risk of losing synchronization. Virtual impedance
can limit the harmonics produced by the converter itself and
from the system, where additionally negative sequence
impedance can be added to enhance the response in case of
unbalanced phase voltages exists in the system such as during
asymmetrical faults. This VSM-based STATCOM controller is
less sensitive to power or voltage fluctuation induced by
renewable energy sources or power grid with a better
synchronization performance, therefore, it can achieve an
improved voltage regulation than the conventional STATCOM
controlled in the d-q frame [24].
The comparison between a VSM based STATCOM
controller and a conventional cascaded d-q frame STATCOM
controller are provided in [24]. The following features are
demonstrated for a VSM based STATCOM controller:
The QV control loop, which is used to regulate the
magnitude of the bus voltage at the Point of Common
Coupling (PCC), has nearly 20 dB higher gain than the d-q
frame controller in the low frequency range. This feature
ensures a much better resistance against the PCC voltage
variation [24].
The VSM based controller has a much smaller frequency
range (about two decades) of negative impedance than the
d-q frame controller, it is a favorable feature which
indicates a more stable system [24].
When the input power to the wind farm varies by 0.25 pu,
the PCC phase-phase voltage is much better regulated
using a VSM based controller as shown in Fig. 6 [24].
Fig. 6 Comparison of PCC voltage regulation performance between a VSM
based STATCOM controller and a conventional cascaded d-q frame
STATCOM controller when power fluctuates by 0.25 pu [24].
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B. Frequency Control
The VSM method is mostly utilized for frequency control
due to its ability to add virtual inertia to control power
electronic device based systems.
Ref [28] demonstrate the equivalence between VSM-based
control and frequency-droop controllers. The demonstrated
equivalence links a single theoretical frame into these two well
established concepts, which have been developed in separate
contexts.
Droop-based schemes have become the preferred solution
for control of voltage source converters (VSCs), which can
ensure stand-alone operation and load sharing among parallel
connected VSC units during steady state and transients,
similarly to traditional synchronous machines. The principle of
frequency-droop controller is demonstrated by a block diagram
in Fig. 7. The active power, Pel, measured at the grid interface
of the power electronic converter is low pass filtered before it
is used as the measurement feedback signals Pm. These filters
are necessary to stabilize the control loops. Similar to VSM
method, the instantaneous voltage phase angle reference
resulting from the droop controllers is given by the integral of
the frequency reference. The equivalence between VSM-based
and frequency-droop-based controllers are shown in Fig. 8
[28].
Fig. 7 A frequency-droop controller for microgrids [28].
Fig. 8 Comparison of various concepts for VSM and droop controllers [28].
Ref [29] proposes a self-tuning VSM method to support
dynamic frequency control in a diesel-hybrid power system.
This method controls the grid-interface converter of an energy
storage system to emulate the inertial response and the
damping power of a synchronous generator. The self-tuning
algorithms are developed and used to continuously search for
optimal parameters during the operation of the VSM control to
minimize the amplitude and rate of change of frequency
variations and the power flow through the energy storage [29].
Other frequency control methods without involving the
VSM are also developed. For example, an application of
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superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is utilized in
[30] to minimize output frequency fluctuations of a wind farm
for an isolated power system. The superconducting magnetic
energy storage (SMES) is a superconducting coil that stores
energy in the magnetic field generated by DC current flowing
through it. The SMES system can acquire a rapid response to
the fluctuations of the wind power by absorbing and releasing
the energy. Due to this feature plus high efficiency, high power
density, and long life time, the SMES system becomes a
preferable energy storage solution for wind power generation.
The applications of SMES for wind farms include: 1) improve
stability, 2) regulate the output power and voltage, and 3)
minimize the system frequency fluctuations [30].
Fig. 9 The configuration of a SMES unit [30].
(a)
(b)
Fig. 10 Response of system frequency with variable wind speed: (a) wind speed
[30]; (b) frequency response without and with the SMES system [30].
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The model of SMES unit consists of a delta-star
transformer, a LC filter, a bidirectional voltage source inverter
(VSI), a DC link capacitor, a two quadrant DC-DC chopper
and a huge inductor as the superconducting coil as shown in
Fig. 9. The bi-directional VSI and two quadrant DC-DC
chopper are used to transfer both active and reactive powers
between wind generator and superconducting coil. The
capacity of SMES is determined by the inductance and critical
current of superconducting coil. Using the SMES system, the
frequency fluctuation can be significantly reduced as shown in
Fig. 10 [30].
IV. HARMONICS
Due to application of power electronic converters/inverters,
harmonics are produced by renewable energy generation.
Various harmonics mitigation and compensation methods have
been investigated and proposed [8, 11, 31-35]. Active power
filters form a commonly used research stream in harmonic
reduction [31, 32]. Another main research stream is to design
and implement innovative control methods for grid interfacing
converters to compensate harmonics [35], which is the main
focus in this section.
Ref [35] provided a comprehensive review for harmonic
compensation using control of converters for renewable
energy-based distributed generation (DG). There are three
control methods for harmonic compensation: the current-
control method (CCM), the voltage-control method (VCM),
and the hybrid-control method (HCM). The harmonic
compensation can be either for local loads or at the point of
common coupling (PCC). A summary of different harmonic
compensation schemes is shown in Table IV [35].
The virtual-impedance-based control scheme provides an
attractive way to shape dynamic profiles of converters. Over
last a few years, the virtual impedance method was
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIA.2016.2626253, IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications

increasingly employed for controlling voltage-source
converters and current-source converters, mainly driven by the
fast-growing renewable power generation and energy efficient
loads in power grid. The virtual impedance control loop can be
embedded as an additional degree of freedom for active
stabilization and disturbance rejection, or employed as a
command reference generator for the converters to provide
ancillary services. The virtual impedance classification based
on their functions are summarized in Fig. 11. The virtual
impedance control method can be used in stabilization, power
flow control, fault ride through and harmonic/unbalance
compensation. The principle of the virtual impedance control
method in various applications are summarized in [36].
The application of virtual impedance control method on
harmonic compensation for renewable energy sources have
been reported in [8, 37, 38]. The virtual impedance can be
placed between the interfacing converter output and main
power grid to improve system stability and provide proper
sharing of harmonic compensation among multiple distributed
generation units according to their available ratings [35, 38].
The optimal design value, robust implementation, and proper
utilization of the virtual impedance for the performance
enhancement for distributed generation are key aspects for the
virtual impedance method. A virtual impedance design and
implementation approach is proposed by considering these key
aspects in [38].
In Ref [38], two areas of power system performance are
improved by utilizing virtual impedance approach: 1) improve
system performance during transient and grid faults; 2) achieve
harmonics mitigation. For the first area, flexible small-signal
models of microgrids in different operation modes are
developed first, the desired distributed generation impedance
range is then determined considering the stability, transient
response, and power flow performance of distributed
generation units. An adaptive impedance concept is proposed
to further improve power control performances during the
transient and grid faults. During transients, the virtual
impedance can enhance the dynamic performance of power
controllers [36, 38]. For the second area, a robust virtual
impedance implementation method is developed, which can
effectively mitigate voltage distortions caused by harmonic
loads [38].
The control block diagram for the voltage control and
virtual impedance implementation is shown in Fig. 12 [38]. A
case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed
virtual impedance harmonic mitigation method: 1) without a
virtual impedance, a physical impedance with 0.047 pu
reactance (4 mH) and 0.031 pu resistance (1 ) is connected at
the distributed generation (DG) output, the total harmonic
distortion (THD) of the PCC voltage is 9.21% (the
corresponding waveforms, DG voltage, DG current, and PCC
voltage, are shown in Fig. 13); 2) with a virtual impedance, a
0.044 pu virtual reactance is implemented, and thus, the feeder
reactance is reduced to 0.003 pu and the resistance remains the
same, the THD of the PCC voltage is reduced to 4.77% (the
corresponding waveforms, DG voltage, DG current, and PCC
voltage, are shown in Fig. 14) [38].
TABLE IV
SUMMARY OF DIFFERENT HARMONIC COMPENSATION SCHEMES [35]

Fig. 11 Virtual impedance classification based on their functions for VSCs and CSCs [36]

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIA.2016.2626253, IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications
Fig. 12 The voltage control and virtual impedance implementation [38]
Fig. 13 Without a virtual impedance - single DG unit with nonlinear load in
islanding operation (with physical impedance X = 0.47 pu, R = 0.031 pu) [38]
Fig. 14 With a virtual impedance - single DG unit with nonlinear load in
islanding operation (with virtual reactance: X = 0.044 pu, physical impedance
X = 0.003 pu, R = 0.031 pu) [38]
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Another harmonic compensation research effort is to use the
multifunctional grid-tied inverter (MFGTI) [39-41], an
advanced grid-tied inverter, which can not only interface
renewable energy into power grid, but also enhance power
quality at its grid-tied point as an auxiliary service. In general,
the capacity of a grid-tied inverter is larger than that of the
installed PV arrays and wind turbines, so it can accommodate
stochastic and intermittent features of solar irradiation and
wind speed. A grid-tied inverter does not always operate at its
nominal capacity point, and its surplus capacity is available in
most of its operation time. Therefore, grid-tied inverters have
additional capacity that can be utilized to enhance the power
quality, and no extra power quality conditioner may be needed
in an inverter-dominated microgrid. Because the apparent
capacity of an MFGTI for power quality compensation is
limited, optimal utilization of such a limited capacity becomes
a critical aspect of the research. To solve the problem, Ref [39]
proposes a comprehensive power quality evaluation algorithm
to achieve the optimal control by an analytic hierarchy process
theory.
The proposed optimal compensation strategy of MFGTIs is
based on a comprehensive power quality index (CPQI) model.
The harmonic and reactive current are considered to have same
weight for traditional power quality conditioners, while the
proposed MFGTIs objective-oriented optimal compensation
strategy considers the harmonic and reactive current
components in the microgrid with different contributing
weights. The proposed method is proved to be effective
through a case study: 1) before compensation, the THD of the
utility voltage is 4.05%, and the THD of grid-tied current at
PCC is 12.97%; 2) after DG1 starts power quality
compensation, the THD of the utility voltage is 3.88%, and the
THD of grid-tied current at PCC is 6.11% [39].
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TIA.2016.2626253, IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications
It is well recognized that renewable energy sources will
produce harmonics, however, field and lab measurement data
are currently needed in order to study characteristics and obtain
typical harmonic spectrums generated from wind and solar
power generation. Some field measurements are presented in
[33, 34], but they are not enough to form a clear picture of
harmonic characteristics. Future research shall be focused on
collecting more harmonic data through lab experiments and
field measurements for renewable energy sources.
V. ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE
Electrical energy storage can be utilized in power grid for
the following purpose: 1) reduce electricity costs by storing
electricity obtained at off-peak hours when its price is lower,
and using it at peak hours instead of using the electricity
bought at higher prices; 2) support customers when power grid
failures occur to improve the reliability of the power supply; 3)
maintain and improve power quality [42].
Fig. 15 shows energy storage applications for renewable
energy integration [42]. The different types of electrical energy
storage can be classified according to energy form as shown in
Fig. 16 [42].
A basic service requirement for power utilities is to supply
power to customers with the voltage and frequency within
tolerance. On the other hand, renewable energy output is
undependable because of changing weather conditions. The
fluctuation in the renewable generation output makes system
frequency control difficult, and electric energy storage can
provide frequency control functions to achieve effective
frequency control [42].
Fig. 15 Electric energy storage applications for renewable energy (RE)
integration [42]
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Fig. 16 Classification of electric energy storage according to energy forms [42]
Although the voltage is generally controlled by transformer
tap changers and reactive power with phase modifiers in power
grid, electric energy storage can also help with voltage
adjustment. The energy storage located at the end of a heavily
loaded line can help to improve voltage drops by discharging
electricity and reduce voltage rises by charging electricity [42].
For a small isolated power network such as an island,
electric energy storage enables utility to supply stable power to
consumers, where diesel generators and renewable energy
sources are usually used together [42, 43, 44]. Electrical energy
storage can be combined with advanced control systems to
achieve the improved stability, reliability, and power quality
for renewable energy integration [29, 30, 45, 46].
VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, an extensive literature review is conducted for
emerging power quality challenges due to integration of
renewable energy sources to power grid. The major quality
issues (voltage and frequency fluctuations, harmonics) are
reviewed, existing state of art technologies related to them are
summarized. The electric energy storage and its role in power
quality due to renewable energy source integration is also
covered in this review.
The future research directions are recommended as follows:
1) It appears the virtual synchronous machine method is
a very promising future research direction for voltage
and frequency control. It can be utilized by itself or
combined with other functions such as reactive power
compensation.
2) The virtual impedance method is an important method
for harmonic compensation based on converter
control. This method also shows significant future
potential to improve system stability.
3) More efforts should be put in obtaining field
measurements on harmonic spectrums for wind and
PV power plants, and residential PV systems in order
to investigate their harmonic characteristics.
4) The innovative control schemes for inverters should
be developed to cope with the grid-side disturbances
for improving renewable energy sources ride-through
capability.
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Transactions on Industry Applications
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0093-9994 (c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Xiaodong Liang (M06SM09) was born in
Lingyuan, China. She received the B.Eng. and
M.Eng. degrees from Shenyang Polytechnic
University, Shenyang, China in 1992 and 1995,
respectively, the M.Sc. degree from the University
of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada in 2004, and
the Ph.D. degree from the University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Canada in 2013, all in Electrical
Engineering. Her research interests include power
system dynamics, power quality, and electric
machines.
From 1995 to 1999, she served as a lecturer at Northeastern University,
Shenyang, China. In October 2001, she joined Schlumberger in Edmonton,
Canada, and in 2009 was promoted to be a Principal Power Systems Engineer
with this large oil service company. After serving Schlumberger for 12 years,
she joined Washington State University in Vancouver, Washington, United
States in August 2013. From August 2013 to May 2015, she was an Assistant
Professor at Washington State University. In July 2015, she joined Memorial
University of Newfoundland in St. Johns, Canada, where she is currently an
Assistant Professor.
Dr. Liang is a registered professional engineer in the provinces of Alberta
and Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.