Testing grid-tied inverters & storage to IEEE 1547-2018 / 1547.1-2020
IEEE 1547-2018 / 1547.1-2020 is a pass/fail decision made by a utility, not an engineering opinion — and inverter and storage manufacturers seeking certification do not get to energise PV inverters, battery energy storage, microgrid controllers until it lands. The work is conformance to interconnection rules before a utility will energise it, and it is decided almost entirely by grid emulation and ride-through envelopes. 400 Hz plays no part. The instrument that settles it is four-quadrant regenerative grid simulator covering 0–1.2 pu, 56–66 Hz, with programmable ROCOF to ≥3 Hz/s, phase-jump capability and sub-cycle event timing.
What you are testing
- Device under test
- PV inverters, battery energy storage, microgrid controllers
- Bus
- utility AC, four-quadrant
- Who buys this
- inverter and storage manufacturers seeking certification
What IEEE 1547-2018 / 1547.1-2020 does not cover
- 400 Hz
- semiconductor reliability
- automotive voltage classes
If your programme needs those, they come from a different standard and often different hardware.
The limits this test has to reproduce
Everything here is a timed decision. The source has to move the DUT through a defined envelope and the fixture has to observe what it did, within a defined window.
| Parameter | Value | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| Voltage trip defaults | OV2 1.20 pu/0.16 s; OV1 1.10 pu/2 s; UV1 0.88 pu/2–21 s; UV2 0.50 pu/0.16–2 s | IEEE 1547-2018 |
| Frequency trip | 62.0 Hz/0.16 s; 61.2 Hz/300 s; 58.5 Hz/300 s; 56.5 Hz/0.16 s | IEEE 1547-2018 |
| Ride-through Cat III | continuous 0.88–1.10 pu; mandatory 0.50–0.88 pu; cease >1.20 pu | IEEE 1547-2018 |
| ROCOF Cat III | 3.0 Hz/s | IEEE 1547-2018 Table 21 |
| Unintentional islanding | parallel RLC at Qf = 1.0; cease to energize within 2 s | IEEE 1547.1-2020 |
The clauses grid-tie programmes actually face, as published in IEEE 1547-2018 / 1547.1-2020. See every limit in IEEE 1547-2018 / 1547.1-2020. Certification work should be run against the published standard.
What decides the rig here
The requirements that separate a system that can run this programme from one that only meets the headline numbers.
Timing accuracy is the whole test
Trip and ride-through clauses are defined in cycles. A source that reaches the level late has failed the DUT for you.
The RLC fixture is not optional
Islanding conformance needs a tuned resonant load, and its quality factor is specified — approximations do not stand up.
The DC side needs simulating too
PV or battery emulation on the input is part of the rig, and is frequently scoped after the grid simulator is already bought.
Equipment that covers it
Further reading on IEEE 1547-2018 / 1547.1-2020
Send us the clauses you have to satisfy
We will come back with the source and load capability that covers them — and tell you plainly if something in your spec needs hardware we would not supply.
Talk to an engineer