A Modified Firefly Algorithm for Photovoltaic Maximum Power Point Tracking Control Under Partial Shading

Photovoltaic modules subjected to partial shading conditions (PSC) can drastically decrease their power output. Hence, there have been various maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control algorithms developed to reduce or counteract the shading effects. Recently, a new metaheuristic algorithm known a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of emerging and selected topics in power electronics 2017-06, Vol.5 (2), p.661-671
Main Authors: Teshome, D. F., Lee, C. H., Lin, Y. W., Lian, K. L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Control algorithms
Convergence
Firefly algorithm (FA)
global optimization
Heuristic methods
Maximum power
Maximum power point trackers
maximum power point tracking (MPPT)
Modules
partial shading (PS)
photovoltaic (PV) array
Photovoltaic systems
Power electronics
Shading
Tracking
Tracking control
Voltage control
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Summary:Photovoltaic modules subjected to partial shading conditions (PSC) can drastically decrease their power output. Hence, there have been various maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control algorithms developed to reduce or counteract the shading effects. Recently, a new metaheuristic algorithm known as firefly algorithm (FA) was developed, which, under PSC, has been shown to successfully track the global maximum point (GMP). Nevertheless, the FA still has some inherent problems that may hinder the performance of the MPPT. This paper modifies the existing FA to counteract these problems. As will be demonstrated in this paper, the proposed modified FA method can reduce the number of computation operations and the time for converging to the GMP that the existing FA requires. Experimental results show that the proposed method can track the global point under various PSC, has a faster convergence time compared with the FA, and can effectively suppress power and voltage fluctuations.
ISSN:2168-6777
2168-6785
DOI:10.1109/JESTPE.2016.2581858