Optimal output voltage control of solar photovoltaic power system

Abstract

The intensity of the sunlight varies throughout the day due to various environmental factors. This variation in the intensity of the incoming sunlight falling on the solar photovoltaic (PV) system makes the overall output voltage of the system unstable. The sunlight variation causes the generated output voltage to change abruptly. Therefore, for regulating the output voltage, a buck-boost converter should be used, which will accordingly buck or boost the output voltage based on the sunlight intensity variations. In this article, an optimal model predictive controller (MPC) is designed and analyzed for regulating the output of the overall PV system. The designed MPC controller optimally controls the PWM duty cycle in order to stabilize and adjust the overall voltage of the PV system. The response of the designed optimal controller is also compared with the classical control techniques as well. The results show that the designed MPC controller regulates the output response of the PV system very well in the presence of system parameters Variations and uncertainties.