A New Maximum Power Point Tracking Based on Modified Firefly Algorithm for PV System Under Partial Shading Conditions

Abstract

A photovoltaic (PV) system under partial shading condition (PSC) may experience several local maximum power points (MPP). Classical maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques, developed for uniform solar radiation on PV arrays, are incapable of discriminating between global and local maximum power points. In this paper, a modified firefly algorithm (MFA) is used and investigated with the objective of PV system MPP tracking under PSCs. A comprehensive evaluation among the proposed MFA, firefly algorithm (FA) particle swarm optimization (PSO), and perturbation and observation (P&O) method, as one of the classical methods of MPPT in uniform irradiance, is performed. Performances of the mentioned methods are studied under various PSCs in MATLAB/Simulink software environment. The obtained results show that under PSCs performances of the proposed method, PSO and FA methods in tracking the global MPP are very satisfactory. Furthermore, the proposed method has a higher tracking speed than FA and PSO methods under partial shading conditions.