A novel robust model reference adaptive MPPT controller for Photovoltaic systems

Solar photovoltaic (SPV) power generation has been more popular throughout the world in recent years due to its recyclable and eco-friendly nature. As a result, extracting the maximum power from SPV systems is important. Our contribution to this problem is to harvest maximum power under changes in ambient conditions and parametric variations. This paper presents a novel robust model reference adaptive maximum power point tracking controller (RMRAC-MPPT) for PV systems under five different cases including temperature, load, irradiance, boost converter capacitance, and inductance variations. To assess the robustness of the proposed method, MATLAB/Simulink software is used to compare it to state-of-the-art techniques such as INC, P O, FLC, Adaptive FLC, SMC, back stepping-SMC, PI, iRCS-MPC, P O-MPC, ANFIS, BAT-FLC, and IPID. The verification of the proposed method is also tested in a laboratory-based OPAL-RT real-time simulator. When the test results are analyzed, it is evident that the proposed MPPT technique improves maximum power point (MPP) tracking capabilities while reducing steady-state oscillations. Furthermore, with five different parameter variations, the time duration to capture MPP is 1.5ms, which is significantly faster than other state-of-the-art techniques. In addition, the proposed technique has a tracking efficiency of 99.75% and an overall system efficiency of 96%.