Dynamic Performance Analysis of an Inverter-Based PV Plant during Sunrises and Sunsets through Synchrophasors

In recent years, inverter-based photovoltaic (PV) plants have become an important part of the modern power grid. In addition to supplying clean energy, they help regulate voltage and maintain the power factor at the point of interconnection. However, the complex behavior of these inverter-based resources (IBR) can sometimes lead to false alarms in modal estimation or oscillation detection tools. In turn, this brings new situational awareness challenges to power system operators, who need to discern between such complex IBR responses and conventional grid dynamics and determine how to address each type of behavior when they occur at lower frequencies. This paper analyzes one type of dynamic behavior from a PV plant at Dominion Energy, which was reported as an oscillation although, as shown in this study, it was actually a nonlinear response result of the plant control mechanism. Using ambient synchrophasor data and a detailed review of the plant’s controller and inverter configuration, we provide a root cause analysis to better understand the factors behind this complex dynamic behavior.

Abstract reproduced from Bikal Pudasaini, Luigi Vanfretti, Chetan Mishra, Jaime De La Ree Jr., Kevin D. Jones, “Dynamic Performance Analysis of an Inverter-Based PV Plant during Sunrises and Sunsets through Synchrophasors,” 2025 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM), 2025. doi.org/10.1109/PESGM52009.2025.11225625 ↗