Fast maximum power point tracking for PV arrays under partial shaded conditions

P-V characteristic of photovoltaic (PV) arrays under partially shaded conditions (PSC) has multiple peaks, and conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms may fail to track the global maximum power point (GMPP) because of their insufficient intelligence in discriminating the local and global peaks. This paper proposes a novel fast MPPT method to achieve GMPP of PV array under all PSCs. The proposed method reduces the number of required samples and increases the speed of GMPP tracking based on comprehensive study of I-V and P-V characteristics of PV array. Performance of the proposed method has been evaluated in simulations of different PSCs. Also, its performance has been compared with two selected methods in the literature through simulations. Comparisons highlight the superiority of the proposed method.