Comparison between algorithms for MPP search in photovoltaic systems in different irradiance and temperature conditions

Abstract

The generation of electric energy is an essential factor for society, both for economic and social development. Within this context, renewable sources have been gaining ground, such as photovoltaic systems. However, its efficiency presents non-linear characteristics due to thresholds in temperature and irradiance, mainly caused by climatic factors. This problem affects the load power supply, thus loosing effectiveness. To minimize this problem, it is necessary the operation at the maximum power point (MPP), made by means of some systems, called Maximum Power Point Trackers (MPPT). This paper discusses the implementation of two intelligent MPPT algorithms: the fisrt one using a metaheuristic called Radial Movement Optimization (RMO), and the second one based on the cooperation of RMO, and a traditional MPPT, called Perturb and Observe (P&O).The results show that although providing stable outputs after finding the MPP, the metaheuristic presents a larger oscillation during the search procedure in comparison with P&O.