Enhanced power generation for total-cross-tied PV array using simulated annealing under partial shading conditions

• Published in: IET renewable power generation Vol. 14; no. 17; pp. 3457 - 3468
• Main Authors: Sai Krishna, Gundluru, Moger, Tukaram
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Institution of Engineering and Technology 14.12.2020
• Subjects: electrical connections; energy conservation; energy savings; enhanced power generation; expected life cycle; global maximum power point; GMPP; maximum power point trackers; multiple peak points; partial shading conditions; photovoltaic module; photovoltaic power systems; power generation economics; power loss; PV characteristics; PV modules; reconfiguration methods; reconfiguration technique; reconfigured connection matrix; Research Article; revenue generation; shading effects; shading impacts; shading patterns; simulated annealing; simulated annealing algorithm; solar cell arrays; TCT array; total‐cross‐tied PV array; revenue generation; reconfiguration methods; GMPP; enhanced power generation; energy savings; reconfiguration technique; power generation economics; PV modules; power loss; solar cell arrays; simulated annealing; PV characteristics; shading effects; total-cross-tied PV array; partial shading conditions; photovoltaic power systems; multiple peak points; TCT array; maximum power point trackers; shading impacts; expected life cycle; simulated annealing algorithm; energy conservation; electrical connections; shading patterns; global maximum power point; reconfigured connection matrix; photovoltaic module
• ISSN: 1752-1416; 1752-1424
• DOI: 10.1049/iet-rpg.2020.0480

Shade phenomena affect the PV module's power output, introduce multiple peak points in PV characteristics, and shorten the expected life cycle of the module. In order to prevent this issue, PV modules should reconfigure, namely, altering the electrical connections between PV modules based on the irradiance without changing their physical locations. As a result, the shading effects can distribute over the array and increase power output. This paper proposed a novel reconfiguration technique based on the simulated annealing algorithm to distribute shading impacts on 9$\times $×9 total-cross-tied (TCT) PV array. In this work, the proposed algorithm produces a reconfigured connection matrix for 9$\times $×9 TCT array that can minimize the current differences in each row and improve the power output. Various shading conditions have been taken to investigate the proposed technique by obtained global maximum power point (GMPP), current at GMPP, power loss, fill-factor, and efficiency. Further, the performance of the proposed technique is validated with other existing reconfiguration methods under partial shadings. In comparison with existing methods, the result shows that the proposed simulated annealing enhanced the power generation of the TCT array under all shading patterns.