A Comparative Study between Four Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques for Photovoltaic Array System under Partial Shading Conditions

Abstract

<p>This paper is to empirically determine the most efficient MPPT technique and the most efficient photovoltaic technology under partial shading conditions (PSC). The research involved simulating and experimenting with a selected PV and the most efficient MPPT technique at three levels of PSC which are 25%, 50% and 75% respectively. The purpose of this was to verify the practicality of the MPPT technique in maximizing PV power output efficiency under PSC. The simulation was developed using MATLAB to replicate the PV while Proteus was used to replicate the incremental conductance (IC) technique with the PV. The laboratory experiments involved applying the IC technique to the PV. The implication of this study denotes that if PSC reaches 75% then the mono-crystalline PV implementations with the Incremental Conductance (IC) MPPT technique will not be feasible.</p>