Comparative analysis of different MPPT schemes for photovoltaic integration of modular multilevel converter

This paper demonstrates a comparative study of two well-known Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms in photovoltaic (PV) plants based on Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC). The Perturb and Observe (P&O) technique which is widely deployed throughout industry is considered for the comparison evaluation together with the Ripple Correlation Control (RCC) strategy. The efficiency of entire PV generation system heavily depends on the power conversion unit in addition to the employed MPPT performance, in particular during fast varying environmental conditions. This paper presents an outcome of a detailed evaluation of the simulated PV system utilizing both MPPT methods for the MMC with respect to dynamic performance, solar panels mismatch, solar irradiance variation and practical implementation. The proposed PV generation system with a 5-level MMC inverter is evaluated through simulation to verify the main findings.