Development of microcontroller-based maximum power point tracker for a photovoltaic panel

Maximum power point trackers (MPPT) are used to operate a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel at its maximum power point (MPP). In this paper a microcontroller based MPPT is realized. Two tracking algorithms, namely, perturb and observation (PAO) algorithm and maximum power point voltage (MPPV) algorithm have been implemented. The MPPT is tested under varying insolation and load conditions. It has been shown that with PAO algorithm, the controller takes significant time to track the MPP. Moreover, the operating point oscillates around the MPP. The large tracking time and oscillations around the MPP result in significant energy loss during the tracking process. The wastage of power is more significant in rapidly changing atmospheric condition, as the controller has to search for new operating point more frequently. On the other hand, with the MPPV algorithm, the MPP is tracked very quickly with no oscillations around the MPP