Effect of Partial Shading and Performance Analysis on Various Array Configurations of Photovoltaic System

Abstract

Non-uniform irradiations or shading conditions affect the output power of photovoltaic array, by causing multiple peaks in its characteristics. To overcome this limitation, several photovoltaic array configurations have been proposed in literature such as Series-Parallel (SP), TotalCross-Tied (TCT) and Bridge-Linked (BL). In this paper, these three array configuration techniques are simulated for an 11kV, 1 MWph PV plant using MATLAB/SIMULINK. Comparative studies for three methods are performed in-terms of power loss, mismatch loss and fill factor under various shade condition. Simulation results show that the TCT configuration generates 56 kW and 100 kW power more than SP and BL respectively for case 1. In case 2, TCT generates additional 54 kW and 46 kW than SP and BL while in case 3, TCT generates additional 4 kW and 17 kW than SP and BL respectively. Simulation results and comparative study confirm that the Total-Cross-Tied configuration has excellent performance and generates more power under wide range of partial shading conditions than Series-Parallel and Bridge-linked configurations. © 2019 IEEE.