Performance enhancement of photovoltaic system using genetic algorithm- based maximum power point tracking

Abstract

In recent years, enormous progress has been made on power generation using photovoltaic (PV) system. Solar power is one of the most promising renewable energy sources that is providing its benefit specifically in rural areas. With the increasing need for solar energy, it becomes necessary to extract maximum power from the PV array. The output power of the solar cells varies directly with the ambient temperature and Irradiation. Therefore, the challenge is to track maximum power from the PV array when environmental factors change. This paper focuses on increasing the efficiency of a PV array by incorporating artificial intelligence techniques. The genetic algorithm-based optimization technique is developed in order to track maximum power at given ambient conditions. The performance of the algorithm was tested under various environmental conditions using MATLAB/Simulink. A comparative study is done on the PV system using the conventional perturb & observe algorithm and genetic algorithm. The results show that the proposed MPPT technique is capable of tracking maximum power from the PV array with reduced oscillation and fast tracking speed.