The performance of perturb and observe and incremental conductance maximum power point tracking method under dynamic weather conditions

With the rapid growth of photovoltaic (PV) systems, stringent standards are envisaged to ensure the safe and efficient generation of power. Therefore, the performance of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) element in PV system under dynamic environmental conditions is very crucial. Hence, this paper evaluates the performance of perturb and observe (P&O) and incremental conductance (IC) MPPT technique on the basis of European Efficiency Test, EN 50530, which is specifically devised for the dynamic performance of PV system. Both techniques are implemented in direct control structure and buck-boost converter is used as MPPT converter. Experiments are conducted using a custom designed PV array simulator. Results reveal that both methods yield almost equivalent dynamic MPPT efficiency. However, in average, the performance of IC method is found to be slightly better that gives 98.5% efficiency compare to 98.3% in P&O. It is also seen that the performance of IC method is very sensitive to its perturbation size, especially at low insolation levels. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.