A novel method to estimate the maximum power for a photovoltaic inverter system

This paper describes a novel method to approximate the maximum power for a photovoltaic inverter system for solar distributed generation. It is designed for power systems applications and utilities. The proposed method takes in consideration the interaction between solar panels, photovoltaic inverter, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control, solar panel DC side dynamic model and the effective intensity of light over the solar panel. The new method has the advantage to provide a new simple way to approximate the optimal voltage or rated voltage (V_op), the optimal or rated current (l_op) and maximum power rating (P_max) produced by a solar panel and the photovoltaic inverter. Furthermore, this straightforward method will be named linear reoriented coordinates method (LRCM) with the advantage that P_max and V_op can be approximated using the same variables as the dynamic model without using complicate approximations or Taylor series. Finally, some simulations results are presented.