Application of PSO method for maximum power point extraction in photovoltaic systems under partial shading conditions

This paper presents a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) method, which is applied to a photovoltaic (PV) system. It is well known that photovoltaic (PV) panel present a nonlinear relationship between its current and voltage quantities. Furthermore, when PV panels are under partial shading, the characteristic curve IpvxVpv can present, simultaneously, several local and global maximum power points. Therefore, the proposed MPPT-PSO algorithm deals to overcome the partial shading effects, tracking the global maximum power point in order to maximize the power extraction of the PV arrangements. Experimental and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MPPT-PSO algorithm, when it is compared with the well-known Perturb and Observe (P&O) MPPT technique.