Application and comparison between the conventional methods and PSO method for maximum power point extraction in photovoltaic systems under partial shading conditions

Abstract

Several algorithms have been offered to track the Maximum Power Point when we have one maximum power point. Moreover, fuzzy control and neural was utilized to track the Maximum Power Point when we have multi-peaks power points. In this paper, we will propose an improved Maximum Power Point tracking method for the photovoltaic system utilizing a modified PSO algorithm. The main advantage of the method is the decreasing of the steady state oscillation (to practically zero) once the Maximum Power Point is located. moreover, the proposed method has the ability to track the Maximum Power Point for the extreme environmental condition that cause the presence of maximum multi-power points, for example, partial shading condition and large fluctuations of insolation. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, MATLAB simulations are carried out under very challenging circumstance, namely step changes in irradiance, step changes in load, and partial shading of the Photovoltaic array. Finally, its performance is compared with the perturbation and observation” and fuzzy logic results for the single peak, and the neural-fuzzy control results for the multi-peaks.