A Technique for Improving P&O MPPT Performances of Double-Stage Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Systems

In double-stage grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverters, the dynamic interactions among the DC/DC and DC/AC stages and the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller may reduce the system performances. In this paper, the detrimental effects, particularly in terms of system efficiency and MPPT performances, of the oscillations of the PV array voltage, taking place at the second harmonic of the grid frequency are evidenced. The use of a proper compensation network acting on the error signal between a reference signal provided by the MPPT controller and a signal that is proportional to the PV array voltage is proposed. The guidelines for the proper joint design of the compensation network (which is able to cancel out the PV voltage oscillations) and of the main MPPT parameters are provided in this paper. Simulation results and experimental measurements confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.