PV Panel Based Micro Inverter Using Boost Control Topology with PWM and MPPT (Perturb and Observe) Method

Over the past years, the energy demand has been steadily growing and so methods of how to cope with this staggering increase are being researched and utilized. One method of injecting more energy to the grid is renewable energy, which has become in recent years an integral part of any country’s power generation plan. Thus, it is a necessity to enhance renewable energy resources and maximize their grid utilization, so that these resources can step up and reduce the over dependency of global energy production on depleting energy resources. This paper focuses on solar power and effective means to enhance its efficiency using different controllers. In this regard, substantial research efforts have been done. However, due to the current market and technological development, more options are made available that can boast the efficiency and utilization of renewables in the power mix. In this paper, an enhanced maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller has been designed as part of a Photovoltaic (PV) system to generate maximum power to satisfy load demand. The PV system is designed and simulated using MATLAB (consisting of a solar panel array, MPPT controller, boost converter, and a resistive load). New electrical codes require rapid solar system shutdown so first responders or firefighters are safe from high voltage when they need to be on rooftops or servicing power lines. Microinverters comply with these rapid shutdown requirements and have this capability embedded into each module. Each controller will be tested under two different scenarios; the first is when the panel array is subjected to constant amount of solar irradiance along with a constant atmospheric temperature and the second scenario has varying solar irradiance and atmospheric temperature. The performance of these controllers is analyzed and compared in terms of the output power efficiency, system dynamic response and finally the oscillations behavior. Microinverters and the add-on optimizers have the ability to track the production of each individual panel, while with a standard inverter you only can track the production of the whole system. If you were to expand your system in the future, microinverters are simple to add one at a time. Each panel and microinverter pair can be easily added to your existing solar array without needing to worry about purchasing, siting, and installing additional string inverters.