Impact of Wiring Resistance on PV Array Configurations in Harvesting the Maximum Power Under Static and Dynamic Shading Conditions

Abstract

Partial shadowing is the primary cause of power degradation in PV systems. There are various methods for harvesting extreme power from a PV array. Proper selection of PV array configuration is one of the strategies to extract maximum power. Cross ties in PV array configurations play a major role in maximizing the power. As the number of cross ties increases, maximum power from PV array increases. But, these cross ties have resistance, which increases the wiring losses, which may result in the decrease of power from the PV array. For the investigation of the impact of wiring resistance (column wiring and cross-ties wiring) under static and dynamic partial shading situations, this paper considers several 9×9 PV array designs such as Series-Parallel, Bridge-Link, Honey-Comb, Total-Cross-Tied, and Triple-Tied-Cross-Linked. The analysis of Total-Cross-Tied and Triple-Tied-Cross-Linked PV array configurations is extended to 18×18 array size. Measures such as global maximum power point, efficiency, fill factor, and mismatch losses were used in the performance analysis. The simulation findings show that, when a large number of panels are shaded statistically, the impact of wiring resistance is significant.