A Proposal for an MPPT Algorithm Based on the Fluctuations of the PV Output Power, Output Voltage, and Control Duty Cycle for Improving the Performance of PV Systems in Microgrid

In microgrids, distributed generators that cannot be dispatched, such as a photovoltaic system, need to control their output power at the maximum power point. The fluctuation of their output power should be minimized with the support of the maximum power point tracking algorithm under the variation of ambient conditions. In this paper, a new maximum power point tracking method based on the parameters of power deviation (ΔPPV), voltage difference (ΔVPV), and duty cycle change (ΔD) is proposed for photovoltaic systems. The presented algorithm achieves the following good results: (i) when the solar radiance is fixed, the output power is stable around the maximum power point; (ii) when the solar radiance is rapidly changing, the generated power is always in the vicinity of maximum power points; (iii) the effectiveness of energy conversion is comparable to that of intelligent algorithms. The proposed algorithm is presented and compared with traditional and intelligent maximum power point tracking algorithms on the simulation model by MATLAB/Simulink under different radiation scenarios to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.