Modeling and simulation of a stand-alone photovoltaic plant with MPPT feature and dedicated battery storage

Abstract

This paper reports on the modeling and simulation of a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) plant with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) feature and dedicated battery storage. The overall plant comprises the PV module, battery bank, MPPT module, controller, inverter and a resistive load. The load is supplied by both the PV and the battery bank. The fluctuations in the output of the PV module are controlled and held at maximum power output by the MPPT module. The battery controller is included to control the charging and discharging of the battery. The overall plant model is an integration of individual PV, MPPT, controller, inverter, battery and load models. The proposed model is used to determine the voltage, current and power at the maximum power point and then investigate the quality of voltage available at load terminals for different operating scenarios. The plant model has been found to be accurate to reflect satisfactorily the system behaviour for different loads as well as for different solar irradiance values. Response of the stand-alone plant to various changes in load demand as well as changes in solar irradiance and ambient temperature are presented along with the analysis of the simulated results.