Performance Analysis of Fuzzy Logic Maximum Power Point Tracking Scheme for Solar PV System Under Varying Load and Atmospheric Conditions

Fuzzy logic control (FLC) is considered as one of the most effective algorithms for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) in Photovoltaic (PV) panels and this paper serves to investigate the performance of this algorithm. It describes the step by step modelling of a full PV system with detailed design of the FLC algorithm for the MPPT controller. The model is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink. The PV system with the FLC-based MPPT controller is subjected to uniform and non-uniform changes in weather conditions with an extensive list of test cases including partial shading condition (PSC) and load variation to cater for as many of the realistic weather changes that can happen during the usual operation of PV plants. The simulation results showed that FLC tracked the maximum power point (MPP) to an efficiency of 99% very quickly and with very small oscillations during step changes in irradiance and temperature. However, its performance decreased under non-uniform weather changes. FLC also showed very low efficiency during load variation.