Mitigation of Partial Shading Losses in Photovoltaic Systems with Power Optimisers

Partial Shading effect due to clouds cover in tropics has a great influence on PV efficiency and the generated power reliability. This work showcases the potential of using photovoltaic power optimisers (PVPO) to mitigate the impact of partial shading in string inverter PV systems. The simulation of the characteristics of the PV system under partial shading conditions will be correlated to an actual agrivolatic farm which has been setup for analysis. The findings will provide a clearer understanding on the use of Module Level Power Electronics (MLPE) to mitigate power losses due to array mismatch caused by partial shading and aging of the PV modules.