Voltage controlled buck converter based photovoltaic emulator

This paper outlines the simulation of voltage controlled photovoltaic emulator and its performance is evaluated with linear and non-linear load which is compared with the results that would have been obtained if loads were fed from the real PV source. A photovoltaic emulator is a dc-dc converter having similar electrical characteristics as that of a photovoltaic panel. A photovoltaic emulator facilitates PV system to be analyzed in a controlled environment while using actual photovoltaic panels may produce inconsistent results, due to variations in outside temperature and weather conditions, for the PV system. Simulation results are obtained using simulation tools which show that PV emulator system behaves electrically same as a real PV source.