Development of a solar photovoltaic module emulator

Solar photovoltaic (PV) emulator systems with high precision and high reliability are of great importance in the interest of developing PV equipment with improved performance at fluctuating conditions. Typical PV module emulators tend to have some drawbacks (high cost, limited customization abilities), with some not capable of providing the power outputs of the newest generation of PV modules. A portable, inexpensive and light-weight plug-and-play front end device for emulating photovoltaic modules has been developed using a buck converter and is described in this paper.