A Comparative Analysis of series and parallel topologies of Perturb and Observe (P&O) and Incremental Conductance (InC) MPPT Algorithms for Photovoltaic System

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) is considered one of the most important sources of energy in the world, owing to its inherent advantages of being cheap, environmental friendliness, and energy-efficient. To increase the output power of the solar PV system, it is most important to enforce it to operate at the highest possible maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm lead an important role in optimization the performance of a photovoltaic (PV) generation systems. This paper compares two widely used MPPT algorithms, namely the Perturb and Observe (P&O) method and the Incremental Conductance (IC) method, known for their low cost and eases of realization. The algorithms were evaluated based on important parameters such as voltage, current, and power output for different combinations, with and without shading. The performance of the photovoltaic array was evaluated using the MATLAB Simulink toolbox. The simulation results demonstrate that the IC method can rapidly detect the maximum power point (MPP) when irradiance changes suddenly, with faster convergence and higher accuracy than the P&O algorithm. Simulations are performed to test the controller's capability oftracking the MPP when sudden variations in weather condition