Modular Architecture with Power Optimizers for Photovoltaic Systems

Abstract

Solutions that increase efficiency in renewable energy are important for environmental sustainability. In this way, dealing with photovoltaic generation a new architecture constituted by power optimizer for photovoltaic systems emerges. Power optimizer is a DC/DC converter, allocated to each one or two photovoltaic modules, that tries to reduce losses in photovoltaic systems, increasing the photovoltaic power generation. Thus, this paper presents the architecture used in a photovoltaic system with power optimizer and a performance simulation for application in a residence and a photovoltaic plant. Thus, it is possible to measure the gain provided by power optimizer in simulated systems. As a result, the application of the photovoltaic system in residence provided better performance than the application in the photovoltaic plant, due to the greater frequency of shading in the photovoltaic modules. Therefore, power optimizer for photovoltaic systems is a solution that can be considered, mainly with the reduction of the cost of power electronics in the future.