Current Balancing and PSO Methods-Based PV Array Output Power Optimization: A Comparative Study

The phenomenon of mismatch between the modules constituting a photovoltaic (PV) array is one of the problems that frequently occur in PV systems, in particular, the shading issue, which may result in less energy production. To deal with this issue, various configuration methods have been adopted in the literature. However, these configuration methods are suffering from implementation complexity in practice, such as more wiring, more sensors, the need to have more processing, and more memory use. In the present paper, a comparative study between the current balancing (CB) and particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based PV reconfiguration methods is carried out using MATLAB/Simulink software. The reached findings under varying partial shading conditions (PSCs) are investigated to determine the best approach among them.