Design and implementation of a programmable solar photovoltaic simulator

A solar panel is a device that converts light into electricity. Solar electric equipment like inverters or maximum power point trackers must be used to harness solar power. Such equipment needs to be rigorously tested for power quality, protection, safety and other issues. Testing in a natural environment using solar panels presents difficulties in terms of repeatability as well as achieving full range of environmental parameters such as solar radiation and temperature which strongly impact the performance of photovoltaic systems. Therefore it is important to devise testing facilities which are more compact, flexible and cost-effective than actual solar panels. This work presents a programmable solar photovoltaic simulator which can eliminate the need for using actual solar panels for testing and development purposes.