Ali Akbar Ghassami

This study proposes a novel communication-based method for tracking global maximum power point (GMP) under partial shading condition (PSC) for a rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems. The proposed method uses communication between converters to detect the occurrence of PSC and finds the GMP. The method does not need to find all local maximum points (LMPs) to determine GMP. Consequently, the energy loss due to blind scan is avoided and the time of tracking GMP is reduced. In addition, the starting points for searching LMPs are defined which are very close to the LMPs. Furthermore, the system identifies repetitive shadow on the module and informs the operator to cope with the problem. The proposed method by using real-time measurements is immune to the change of module’s parameters with respect to aging and environmental conditions (temperature and irradiance level). Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method