Performance of Meta-heuristic Algorithm for a Photovoltaic System under Partial Shade

Abstract

• Renewable energies are very attractive for the production of electrical energy and consequently the installation of power plants is growing Rsharply in order to meet the constant demand for energy in emerging countries. Indeed, these countries then invest too many means to develop their natural resources, in particular hydraulic, solar, wind, biomass, etc.., in order to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. The production of electricity from solar energy as an alternative to fossil fuels continues to be the subject of several research works. However, the problem is that the production of these plants is intermittent because it depends mainly on the level of irradiation and the temperature. However, several methods have been developed to ensure operation at the maximum power point of the photovoltaic generator whatever the climatic conditions. This work concerns the study of the effect of the non-uniform variation of the level of irradiation known under the name of partial shading on photovoltaic installations and to evaluate the performance and the interest of the use. Meta-heuristic algorithms for tracking the maximum power point compared to those of classical optimization. The study validated by numerical simulations taking into account different partial shading scenarios. The analysis of the results proves the best performances of the meta-heuristic algorithms, whatever the position of the point of maximum power.