Development of MATLAB code for smart grid connected photovoltaic system including efficiency study

Abstract

The availability of non-renewable energy sources such as crude oil, natural gas, coal etc., are fast diminishing. So the renewable energy sources such as solar, hydropower, geothermal, wind, tidal energy, are gaining more and more importance. Many new developments to convert these renewable energy sources into usable forms are taking place. Most renewable energy sources are used to produce electricity. In this paper, a performance and efficiency simulation study of a smart-grid connected photovoltaic system is proposed. The simulation is performed in MATLAB environment where the Current-Voltage (I-V) and Power-Voltage (P-V) curves from the solar array simulator are generated and plotted. The proposed topology has been verified with satisfactory results. In addition temperature and irradiance effects on I-V and P-V characteristic curves are verified. Also, the efficiency curves of the photovoltaic grid interface inverter are generated in the study.