Maximum Power Point Tracking for Solar PV System

Abstract

There is an ever increasing demand for energy in today's world. The photovoltaic (PV) systems are the suitable options for satisfying an ever increasing need for energy and thus are being used widely around the globe. Some special methods are required for extracting the maximum available power out of PV systems because they are nonlinear in nature. The nonlinear characteristic of the IV curve of PV module has a unique single point of maximum power. Electronic converters are required to work at that power point. These power electronic converters are controlled with the help of algorithms known as Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) techniques. Various unique algorithms are found in the literature with their specific pros and cons. By keeping in mind that an efficient tracking of Maximum Power Point (MPP) can increase the use of a PV system by many times, in this paper we presented a comparison of widely used MPPT techniques such as, i) Fractional Short Circuit Current (FSCC), ii) Fractional Open Circuit Voltage (FOCV), iii) Perturb & Observe (P&O), and iv) Incremental Conductance (IC) MPPTs etc. The comparative analysis provides the advantages and disadvantages of each MPPT with a resistive load.