Optimal photovoltaic array reconfiguration to maximize power production under partial shading

Partial shading of a photovoltaic array is the condition under which different parts of the array experience different irradiance levels due to shading. The difference in irradiance levels causes mismatch between the modules of the photovoltaic array, leading to undesirable effects such as reduction in generated power from the modules of the array and hot spots inside the array. The severity of these effects can be considerably reduced by dynamic reconfiguration of the array. This paper proposes a mathematical formulation for the optimal photovoltaic array reconfiguration problem and finds a solution algorithm for the problem. The improvement resulting from the reconfiguration with respect to the existing photovoltaic interconnections is demonstrated by extensive simulation results.