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This paper proposes a near accurate Solar PV Emulator using DC-DC Buck converter. A mathematical model serving as a reference is built using MATLAB/SIMULINK for emulating Solar PV characteristics. In the proposed Emulator by changing model parameter values it is possible to emulate any Solar PV characteristics. Hardware implementation is done using dSPACE ds1104 controller board and a closed loop control system is built using PI controller. The proposed Emulator has the following characteristics: 1. Fast and accurate Solar PV Emulator with easy interfacing and real-time control 2. Features to extend the system for other Solar PV panels 3. DC-DC Buck converter having high bandwidth. 4. Faster dynamic response and highly stable output with lower response time. 5. Lower output voltage and current ripple. Experimentations are done under different operating conditions and the results obtained are compared with the existing Emulators.

Solar PV cells usually operate at efficiency less than 20%, never generates maximum power due to change in environmental conditions such as irradiation, temperature, partial shading etc. Maximum power can be generated from PV cell with suitable tracking techniques. A modified Particle Swarm Optimization (MPSO) technique is proposed in this paper for tracking maximum power. This proposed evolutionary computation technique assures nearly zero steady state oscillation and faster convergence while tracking maximum power. The proposed PSO algorithm is tested on a CUK converter due to its higher efficiency and ripple free output. Simulations are carried out in MATLAB/SIMULINK and the computed results are validated in an experimental setup.

An alternative method of testing maximum power point tracking and solar Photo Voltaic (PV) system performance with a solar PV emulator is presented in this paper. Solar PV emulators are Hardware-in-Loop setup, which mimics the characteristics of a PV panel. Further, these emulators are supplementary to strenuous field testing and commercial solar PV training systems available for research prototyping. In this paper, a solar PV emulator built using a DC-DC Buck Converter and dSPACE ds1104 controller is proposed. In addition, MATLAB/SIMULINK Environment is used to construct the Mathematical Model of Solar PV Module. The proposed Solar PV Emulator has the following features: (1) ease in interfacing with faster dynamic response, (2) ability to monitor and control in real-time using a control desk, (3) higher bandwidth DC-DC buck converter, (4) stable output with lower response time, (5) lower output voltage and current ripple, and (6) capability to reproduce near accurate static and dynamic characteristics of any solar PV module. To illustrate the performance of the proposed emulator, the I-V characteristics of a shell SP70 PV panel are obtained. To further understand the dynamic and steady state behaviour of the system, experimentations are done at different operating conditions. Finally, to know the suitability of the proposed emulator for maximum power point tracking, the Perturb & Observe algorithm is tested for uniform and partial shading conditions.