An improved PSO based MPPT approach to cope with partially shaded condition

This paper presents an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) strategy. Modeling of the PV cell and effect of the partially shaded condition (PSC) on the P_V characteristics are investigated. Typical PSO algorithm is modified to provide a better convergence and faster performance. A novel strategy is also proposed for reinitialization to reduce tracking time and power fluctuations in case of cloudy sky. The performance of the proposed system under uniform insolation, PSC and rapid fluctuation of the insolation is evaluated by MATLAB 2010B.