Modified analytical solution for tracking photovoltaic module maximum power point under partial shading condition

Abstract

Photovoltaic systems application especially mobile applications are subjected to partial shading conditions due to obstacles in the solar irradiation path. Photovoltaic modules facing partial shading condition exhibit a nonlinear and multi-peak output characteristic. Hence, it is important that the global maximum power point through all local maximum power points be tracked. In this paper, an analytical method for tracking the global maximum power point in partial shading condition has been proposed. The proposed method based on an analytical maximum power point tracking method for uniform irradiation condition. The high tracking accuracy and perfect steady state characteristics of the proposed algorithm has been investigated and demonstrated through partial shading condition test on Kyocera KC200GT solar modules in MATLAB/Simulink environment.