Development of a GUI for parallel connected solar arrays

This work describes the development of a software package with a graphical user interface (GUI) for the evaluation of a solar array. The paper presents MATLAB-based simulations for various configurations of solar panels and compares these configurations on basis of power output and photovoltaic characteristics, via current-voltage and power-voltage curves. The simulation used field data to consider partial shading of the array. The computations also consider integrated power converters.