Improved MPPT Technique for Low Power Solar PV Applications

Today, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are one of the most important energy sources used to obtain clean energy worldwide. The power generated by these systems varies depending on the environmental conditions during the day. For low power applications, maximum power that this system can generate must be extracted for every changing weather condition. In this study, an improved approach is proposed to track maximum power point (MPP) with fast response and less oscillation at varying irradiance and temperature. The proposed approach is a hybrid technique in which the cubic spline interpolation (CSI) and the modified real coded genetic algorithms (MRCGA) are combined to estimate the MPP at any irradiation. The estimation model is built by the manufacturer’s data to estimate the open-circuit voltage in a certain irradiation range using the CSI then the MPP voltage is found by multiplying the coefficient $\boldsymbol{k}_{\boldsymbol{v}}$ obtained through the MRCGA. The results are compared with those obtained from conventional methods such as perturb & observe ($\mathrm{P} \& \mathrm{O}$), incremental conductance (IC) etc. under the same conditions and ROPP (Reduced Open-Circuit Potential Protection) test is applied to make a better comparison. The findings show that the proposed hybrid technique produces better outcomes than those obtained from the $\mathrm{P} \& \mathrm{O}$ and IC techniques for the problem under consideration.