Estimation of Solar Photovoltaic Parameters Using Pattern Search Algorithm

The interest towards solar Photovoltaic (PV) based power generation has increased worldwide due to climate change and depletion of fossil fuels. This has led to the need for accurate solar PV modelling under different environmental conditions. Since solar PV shows nonlinear characteristics, optimization technique is the best tool for modelling and estimation of PV parameters. Thus, in this paper, a Pattern Search (PS) algorithm is proposed to optimize the parameters of solar photovoltaic panels. The objective is to identify the parameters of single diode model based PV, in such a way that the difference between PV experimental current and simulated current is minimal. The effectiveness of the algorithms is investigated through simulation in MATLAB/Simulink environment at different solar irradiance and temperature and it is compared with the experimental data of solar module Kyocera - KC200GT 215. Results clearly reveal that the proposed technique shows better results in terms of its accuracy, convergence and CPU execution time.