Comparative Study of Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques for Photovoltaic Systems

The generation of electricity from photovoltaic (PV) arrays has been increasingly considered as a prominent alternative to fossil fuels. However, the conversion efficiency is typically low and the initial cost is still appreciable. A required feature of a PV system is the ability to track the maximum power point (MPP) of the PV array. Besides, MPP tracking (MPPT) is desirable in both grid-connected and stand-alone photovoltaic systems because the solar irradiance and temperature change throughout the day, as well as along seasons and geographical conditions, also leading to the modification of the I x V (current versus voltage) and P x V (power versus voltage) curves of the PV module. MPPT is also justified by the relatively high cost of the energy generated by PV systems if compared with other sources. Since there are various MPPT approaches available in the literature, this work presents a comparative study among four popular techniques, which are the fixed duty cycle method, constant voltage (CV), perturb and observe (P&O), and incremental conductance (IC). It considers different operational climatic conditions (i.e., irradiance and temperature), since the MPP is nonlinear with the environment status. PSIM software is used to validate the assumptions, while relevant results are discussed in detail.