2018 IEEE International Autumn Meeting on Power, Electronics and Computing (ROPEC 2018). Ixtapa, Mexico 978-1-5386-5935-9/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE Abstract— Actually, an imperative need for installing new renewable energy sources in small and medium scale has been motivated in the world due to the high cost tendency of fossil fuels, emissions of polluting gases and growth in electricity demand. This article presents the preliminary study for the installation and start-up of a 1-MW photovoltaic project interconnected to a 13.8- kV distribution network, considering the design, modeling, simulation and components necessary for its installation. The modeling of photovoltaic cells, the operation of a DC/AC energy conversion system are discussed in detail. The developed model makes due account for the SPWM modulation, as well as the controls implemented for the maximum extraction of power from the photovoltaic array (MPPT), active and reactive power controls and DC voltage regulation, for varying solar radiation conditions. Index Terms— PI Tuning; Power Electronics; VSC; Voltage Source Converters; PV system; Power converters. I. INTRODUCTION Around 80% of the worldwide electrical energy generation is mainly based on highly-contaminant fossil fuel burning [1]. In this context, the use of renewable energy sources tends to reduce, to a large extent, the environmental problems caused by conventional generation technologies, where photovoltaic solar energy is nowadays playing a very important role. Specifically, Mexico has a great potential for photovoltaic generation, due to its location in a geographical area with one of the most intense solar radiations in the world. Indeed, Mexico ranks as one of the five countries with the highest solar potential in the world [2]. In addition to this, photovoltaic technologies have had a scientific and technological breakthrough in recent years, where the cost reduction and increased efficiency of the photovoltaic cells, facilitates the initial investment to be quickly recovered. Due to the previously-mentioned reasons, Mexico has generated plans for expansion and investment in renewable energy systems, which signifies today, major challenges for both the industrial and academic sectors. It is then necessary to study and understand the mathematical tools for a suitable modeling and simulation of photovoltaic systems, in order to keep up with the energy challenges of the country. Fig. 1 shows a block diagram concerning the process of conversion of photovoltaic energy, which commonly consists in a stage of arrays of photovoltaic panels that capture solar energy, a stage of energy conversion based on power electronic converters and a coupling transformer for the interconnection with the electrical network. PV array Power converters abc m Transformer Power grid Fig. 1 - Basic PV System In this context, the development of adequate models aimed at power electronic converters, along with their respective controls, have become of vital importance for the national and private electricity industry. Managers and direct investors of photovoltaic installations, need reliable generation data under real operating scenarios, where the production of energy is subject to natural fluctuations of solar irradiation. In this sense, it is very important for PV plant operators to count on very important variables of the converters such as voltages, currents, modulation variables (PWM and SPWM), maximum power operation points (MPPT) of the photovoltaic cells, power dissipated in losses and active and reactive power injected into the network. It is envisaged that these conditions will allow network operators to: (i) improve the production capacities of the photovoltaic systems together with their corresponding sub- systems; (ii) properly plan the operation in the future; (iii) duly diagnose, avoid risks, take informed decisions and reduce costs, without affecting the reliability of the energy supply [3]. A. Paper contribution This article describes in detail a preliminary study for the installation and start-up of a 1-MW photovoltaic project interconnected to a 13.8-kV distribution network, considering the design, modeling, simulation and components necessary for its installation. The modeling of the array of photovoltaic cells, the modeling of the DC/DC converter (Boost Converter) and the modeling of the VSC converter (inverter) are all reported in detail in this paper. The SPWM and PWM modulation techniques controlling the commutations of the converters’ power switches are presented. Furthermore, particular emphasis is placed on the control techniques used to guarantee the operation of the photovoltaic system, which are: i) active and reactive power control in the dq0 frame-of-reference, ii) voltage control of the DC port, iii) use of the MPPT algorithm for the maximum power extraction of the PV system. Modeling and Performance Analysis of 1-MW PV Farm for Varying Solar Irradiance Conditions J. H-Sánchez a ; J. R. Rodríguez-Rodríguez a ; N.M. Salgado-Herrera b ; Luis M. Castro a ; M.R. Arrieta-Paternina a ; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Irapuato (ITESI) Ciudad de México, Mexico a . Guanajuato, México b The authors thank the financial support received by the program DGAPA- PAPIIT-Project TA100178, granted by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), to carry out the developments of this work.