Hardware-In-the-Loop Implementation of Particle Swarm Optimization based MPPT System under Partial Shading Condition

Abstract

The use of renewable energy sources is prevalent to generate electricity owing to the depletion rate of conventional fossil fuels. Solar energy is plentiful and is the most preferred renewable energy source to produce electricity. Consequently, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are employed to meet the electricity demand, especially in remote areas. On the basis of this motivation, four houses are designed in a remote area of India. Correspondingly, the PV system is designed and tested in Hardware-In-the-Loop virtual environment. PV systems are designed to operate efficiently in both normal and challenging conditions, including partial shading, by employing various maximum power point (MPP) tracking algorithms. Furthermore, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Perturb and Observe (P&O) are compared in order to track PV system's global MPP.