An Improved Hill-Climbing Method for the Maximum Power Point Tracking in Photovoltaic System

Considered as an abundant, pollution-free, renewable energy source, photovoltaic energy has an increased importance in electrical power supplies because of energy tension and low-carbon economy. In this paper the model of a photovoltaic array and its characteristics are analyzed. It is obvious that the output power of photovoltaic cells has nonlinear characteristics depending on solar irradiation levels and temperature. In order to continuously deliver the maximum power to the load under the changing conditions, it is necessary to track the maximum power point of the PV array. Therefore, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller based on the improved hill-climbing is proposed in this paper. The controller based on microprocessor is used to implement the proposed MPPT algorithm, which gives a pulse width modulation (PWM) to drive the boost DC/DC converter in the photovoltaic system, and force the photovoltaic module to operate at the maximum power point. The obtained simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.