Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) for Photovoltaic systems using open circuit voltage and short circuit current

Abstract

This paper deals with a new Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) method for Photovoltaic (PV) systems based on Genetic Algorithms (GAs). The proposed algorithm can estimate the current (Impp) and voltage (Vmpp) at maximum power point by measuring the open circuit voltage (Voc) and the short circuit current (Isc) without knowing the irradiance and the cell temperature. To study this method, Matlab/Simulink is used to implement both the algorithm and PV array model. We also give a comparison with the conventional Perturb and Observe (P&O) and Incremental Conductance (Inc-Cond) methods, we observe the advantages about: - Oscillations around the maximum power point. - Response to a rapid atmospheric changing. In GAs we search for a maximum of fitness function (at MPP) while with P&O and Inc-Cond we search for minimal value power derivation, so we have better stability with AGs method.