The presence of harmonics in solar Photo Voltaic (PV) energy conversion system results in deterioration of power quality. To address such issue, this paper aims to investigate the elimination of harmonics in a solar fed cascaded fifteen level inverter with aid of Proportional Integral (PI), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Fuzzy Logic (FL) based controllers. Unlike other techniques, the proposed FLC based approach helps in obtaining reduced harmonic distortions that intend to an enhancement in power quality. In addition to the power quality improvement, this paper also proposed to provide output voltage regulation in terms of maintaining voltage and frequency at the inverter output end in compatible with the grid connection requirements. The simulations are performed in the MATLAB / Simulink environment for solar fed cascaded 15 level inverter incorporating PI, ANN and FL based controllers. To exhibit the proposed technique, a 3 kWp photovoltaic plant coupled to multilevel inverter is designed and hardware is demonstrated. All the three techniques are experimentally investigated with the measurement of power quality metrics along with establishing output voltage regulation.

Distributed generators (D.G.’s) enable us to generate, supply and be self-reliant on power while also allows us to supply power to meet the demand through virtual power plants. The virtual power plants also help us analyse, control, optimise, and help bridge the gap of demand and supply in these vast energy requirements. With this also comes challenges associated with securing physical systems, data protection and information privacy. Recent technological advancements have aided cybercriminals to disrupt operations by carrying out deliberate attacks on the energy sector. Though security researchers have tried to mitigate the risks, vulnerabilities, and it remains a challenge. This paper aims to present a comprehensive Edge-based security architecture to help reduce the risks and help secure the physical systems and ensure privacy and data protection.