Comparison between conventional methods and GA approach for maximum power point tracking of shaded solar PV generators

The characteristics of a photovoltaic (PV) array are affected by temperature, solar insolation, and shading. In fact, under partially shaded conditions, the PV array characteristics get more complex with multiple maxima in the P-V and I-V characteristics. In this paper, a photovoltaic solar system composed of a solar panel under shade, connected to a DC/DC boost converter and controlled with different techniques, is studied and simulated under Matlab/Simpowersystem software. The study allowed us to conclude that the two common algorithms, the Perturb and Observe (P&O) and the Incremental of Conductance (IncCond), fail to extract the maximum power of the PV panel if the PV generator is partially shaded. So, in these conditions, these techniques fail to extract the global maximum; however, they only detect the first maximum encountered either local or global and regardless of the course. To resolve these problems, a technique based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) is studied and simulated under the same software. The results show that the GA method has succeeded to overcome these difficulties and reach the global MPP. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.