Combining incremental conductance and firefly algorithm for tracking the global MPP of PV arrays

Under partial shading conditions (PSCs), multiple local maximum power points (MPPs) may be exhibited on the P-U curve of photovoltaic systems. Direct control (DIRC) methods cannot extract the global MPP (GMPP); soft computing techniques can achieve it but are time consuming. This paper proposes a novel hybrid maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm (INC-FA) combining incremental conductance (INC) and firefly algorithm (FA) to achieve better adaptability in various environments. INC is widely used because of its low-cost implementation and stability under rapidly changing atmospheric conditions, while FA is efficient in searching the GMPP. This combination (INC-FA) not only enables a faster global searching capability but also performs well as a DIRC method in the case of a single peak. In addition, INC-FA introduces the concept of the global optimal region and devises the population initialization mechanism to determine the initial position and population size of fireflies. Finally, the proposed alg...

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