Comparison of solvers for time-domain simulations of single-phase photovoltaic systems

This paper studies the impact of solvers on time-domain simulations of single-phase photovoltaic systems in low voltage networks. The topic is of major importance as the solvers do not only affect the simulation duration but also the simulation results. Inappropriate solver settings can lead to wrong results and consequently to wrong conclusions. However, in practice, this topic typically receives only little interest, though it is very relevant for optimizing the implementation effort and to provide a suitable simulation environment, especially for larger research projects. Theoretical background is provided and simulations for different solvers and different solver settings are performed exemplarily in the software environment MATLAB/Simulink. The results are demonstrated and assessed.