Reconfiguration of photovoltaic arrays based on genetic algorithm

Abstract

This paper describes a Genetic Algorithm (GA) implementation devoted to the calculation of reconfiguration patterns for Photovoltaic Arrays (PVs). The proposed solution is compared with the classical Brute Force (BF) approach, which use is very restrictive due to its long processing times. The GA tuning up process is described, and several cases of study, including partial shading profiles for the PV array, are presented. Results show a very superior performance of the GA, when compared to the BF approach. Improvements in output power, as a result of the calculated reconfiguration, are also shown.