Comparative Analysis of Perturb-and-Observeand Incremental Conductance MPPT Techniquesfor Solar PV Array

Abstract: The increasing demand for electricity and depleting fossil fuels made the solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems to be a better alternative for the future power requirements. Nowadays solar energy has great importance. Because it is easily available resource for energy generation. Solar panels have a nonlinear voltage-current characteristic, with a distinct maximum power point (MPP), which depends on the environmental factors, such as temperature and irradiation. In order to continuously harvest maximum power from the solar panels, they have to operate at their MPP despite the inevitable changes in the environment. This is why the controllers of all solar power electronic converters employ some method for maximum power point tracking (MPPT). Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) which significantly increases the efficiency of the solar photovoltaic System. There are different MPPT control methods used for solar PV systems, Incremental conductance(InC), Perturb and observe(P&O), Constant Current method, Constant Voltage method, Fuzzy Control, and Neural Network Control. This paper presents the comparative analysis between Perturb & Observe (P&O), Incremental Conductance (InC) MPPT techniques and the simulation has been accomplished for PV array using boost converter in MATLAB/SIMULINK.

Keywords: Photovoltaic (PV) System, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), Maximum Power Point (MPP), Perturb and observe (P&O), Incremental Conductance method (InC), Boost Converter.