Hybrid electro-mechanical photovoltaic maximum power point tracking technique for innovative solar trees

Innovative solar trees are gaining booming interest as a street decorative structures in addition to their capabilities to host photovoltaic (PV) panels. Conventionally, solar trees feature fixed-angle installed PV panels fitted with electrical maximum power point tracking DC/DC converter. In this paper, a hybrid electromechanical PV MPPT system is proposed that features single-axis mechanical tracking in addition to a modified variable step electrical MPPT. Simulations in addition to a scale 1:1 experimental setup results verify the effectiveness of the proposed system showing the enhanced power extraction performance.