Illustration of Maximum Power Point Tracking of Photovoltaic Array with Boost Converter Via Perturb and Observe Algorithm

Abstract

In the present era, Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) are replacing fossil fuels with the objective of promoting replenishable and clean sources of energy. Solar energy is one such RES that is gaining popularity for its availability throughout the day at different intensities and vast potentiality in the processes aiding grid integrations. The features of Photovoltaic (PV) cells mainly rely on climatic conditions like temperature, irradiance that are prone to fluctuations. In addition to this, the unpredictable nature of PV systems necessitates a requirement to assess and test the data corresponding to solar energy using appropriate Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) techniques. This paper focuses on the mechanism of Perturb and Observe (PO) algorithm, a highly efficient MPPT technique implemented on a Solar PV array coupled with a boost converter on MATLAB/SIMULINK with the aim of improving the overall optimality of the solar power data as well as the system on which it is used and also includes a brief comparison of the employed method with other widely used MPPT techniques.