MPPT Methods for Solar PV System: A Simulation-based Comparative Analysis

The power output of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems depends on solar irradiance, temperature, load impedance, and so on. The intermittency of these parameters causes fluctuation in power output. The maximum power point tracker (MPPT) tracks the maximum power point (MPP) in the solar panel and generates maximum output power in all fluctuating conditions. A simulation-based comparative analysis is presented in this paper between perturb and observe (P&O), incremental conductance (INC), and particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based MPPT of a solar PV system. The output in MATLAB/Simulink simulation implies that PSO-based MPPT has the maximum efficiency of 99.85%, where INC-based MPPT has the lowest efficiency of 99.6%. The PSO-based MPPT works fluently in partially shaded and varying atmospheric conditions than others and generates no oscillations. This emphasizes that the PSO is more efficient to find MPP compared to P&O and INC-based MPPT.