Perturbation optimization of maximum power point tracking of photovoltaic power systems based on practical solar irradiance data

There is a dilemma for fixed step perturb-and-observe (P&O) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method which is the tracking accuracy and speed. The idea of this paper is to propose an optimized solution which can be regard as a trade-off between performance and cost. The optimal selection of the perturb step size will be designed off-line for a specific location based on their local meteorological data. The step size also can be updated monthly for better system performance without increasing the control complexity. Simulation and experiments have been carried out to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method. The experimental results show an example with 5.8% of energy generation increase by selecting optimal step size based on the local irradiance data.