Experimental Evaluations of Global Maximum Power Point Tracking Approaches in Partial Shading Conditions

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) under partial shading conditions (PSC) has been popular topic recently. In this paper, P&O algorithm, full scanning and large scanning methods and a novel method are evaluated experimentally. In order to compare the methods and algorithms considered, a single ended primary inductance converter (SEPIC) was set up. Experimental results show that P&O algorithm has show poor performance in PSCs. On the other hand, full scanning and large scanning methods manages to track global MPPT (GMPPT). Performance of large scanning method is outstanding than full scanning one since it limits the scanning interval.