Optimization of Photovoltaic System Performance and Power Electronics Efficiency Under Varying Environmental Conditions Through Implementation of Effective Incremental Conductance (INC-MPPT) Algorithm

The adoption of photovoltaic (PV) modules is rapidly escalating. However, high cost of installation and poor efficiency are the leading challenges hampering the implementation of PV modules for bulk power generation. To ensure maximum power extraction and its transfer from PV modules to the load, thereby reducing energy losses, the scheme of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) becomes imperative, as it optimizes renewable energy systems by adjusting operating conditions to extract maximum power from sources such as PV panels or wind turbines. This dynamic tracking enhances efficiency under changing environmental conditions, delivering maximum power to the load or storage system. In this paper, a buck converter was designed for the MPPT application based on Incremental Conductance (INC) algorithm. Buck converter is used as a power interface block to perform load matching to track the maximum power point. The methodology involves contrasting the disparity in power output between the INC method and the performance of the devised buck converter with and without the INC-MPPT algorithm. Findings indicate that the PV module operates with lower power output when MPPT is not employed.  Thus, the INC offers good precision and accuracy and lesser fluctuation on peak power point. In this scheme using INC-MPPT, the converter performs well with an efficiency of over 99% as against the case without the MPPT in which the minimum and maximum efficiencies of 94.81% of 98.9% respectively under fixed temperature and varying irradiance.