A Comparative Approach of Selecting a Suitable Power Conditioner for Photovoltaic Power Systems

This research findings mainly focus on choosing a suitable power converter as a Photovoltaic (PV) interface. The standalone PV power systems mainly rely on the converter topology which basically supports Maximum Power point Tracking (MPPT) ability for extracting required power output in order to meet the load demand. Comparing both the buck and boost converter circuits which belong to the non-isolated converter family, is of primary focus of this paper to enhance the power harvesting capability of PV systems. Simulation results are shown to illustrate the purpose of using the boost converter by representing its output voltage tracking along with power output. The probability of using a boost converter circuit as PV interface is clearly explained by showing its suitability in non-uniform temperature and insolation conditions. Keywords - MPPT, Non-isolated converter, PV interface, Power harvesting, Voltage tracking.