Dual Intercolumn Tied Configuration for Maximum Power Enhancement of Solar PV Array under Non-homogenous Solar Irradiations

Abstract

In today’s world, fossil-fueled power plants are largely used to meet power consumers’ energy needs. As a result, fossil fuels are becoming increasingly scarce, and their consumption has a negative impact on the environment. Because the need for energy has expanded dramatically in recent years, the development of renewable energy sources is growing rapidly. When considering renewable energy sources, solar energy is the first option that comes to mind. Despite the growing use of solar energy, partial shading has a direct impact on its power output and efficiency. Shadows cast by buildings, clouds, trees, soiling, and other objects cause Partial Shading Conditions (PSC), which results in a current mismatch and a substantial decline in the array’s output power. Configuring solar PV modules in an array is one method for mitigating the partial shading effect. Under five (5) different practical shadowing situations, this research explores the performance characteristics of five (5) solar PV array configurations, namely Total Cross Tied (TCT), Series Parallel (SP), Bridge-Link (BL), HoneyComb (HC), and proposed Dual Intercolumn Tied (DIT). A 5x5 solar PV array with 25 Kyocera Solar KD325GX-LFB modules is simulated using MATLAB / SIMULINK under all shading scenarios, and the results are presented based on performance criteria. The obtained results show that the proposed DIT outperforms all other existing configurations.