Novel maximum power point tracking method for improving efficiency of photovoltaic generation system under partial shadow

Abstract

With the increment of installation density, the PV power generation system may encounter the external interference contributed by unpredictable variation of irradiance. Especially, the partial shadow, as one of main factors that lead to the problem of low conversion efficiency ought to be taken into consideration. This paper presents a novel maximum power point tracking method proposed in order to make sufficient utilization of solar energy, on the occasion when the photovoltaic modules are partially shaded. The novel method is based on Perturbation and Observation (P&O) method, with which the scan method is combined periodically. By using this method, the maximum power point can be checked out within transient period. For the purpose of verifying practicality of this novel method, simulation, as well as experiment have been carried out under the same circumstances, respectively. The consequences intuitively indicate that the conversion efficiency operated by proposed method is substantially improved under partial shadow.