Power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approach

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants’ performance is severely impacted by multi-level irradiances or partial shading, leading to power losses and voltage instability. Also, partial shading adds further complexity to the maximum power point tracking algorithms by introducing numerous peaks in the pow...

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Main Authors: Priya Ranjan Satpathy, Vigna K. Ramachandaramurthy, Thurga R. Radha Krishnan, Saranya Pulenthirarasa, Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-10-01
Series:Energy Conversion and Management: X
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174524001892
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author Priya Ranjan Satpathy
Vigna K. Ramachandaramurthy
Thurga R. Radha Krishnan
Saranya Pulenthirarasa
Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban
author_facet Priya Ranjan Satpathy
Vigna K. Ramachandaramurthy
Thurga R. Radha Krishnan
Saranya Pulenthirarasa
Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban
author_sort Priya Ranjan Satpathy
collection DOAJ
description Solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants’ performance is severely impacted by multi-level irradiances or partial shading, leading to power losses and voltage instability. Also, partial shading adds further complexity to the maximum power point tracking algorithms by introducing numerous peaks in the power curves, resulting in additional losses. Numerous solutions are presented to deal with shading losses, and dynamic reconfiguration is the most effective; however, higher switch count and complex architecture make it impractical in real-world implementation. Hence, this study proposes a low-complexity architecture based on the grouped string voltage balancing approach. This approach utilizes a voltage balancing converter connected to groups of strings to enhance the power output of the array of PV plants, maintain overall system voltage stability, and eliminate the possibility of multiple peaks formation in the power curves. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is tested under numerous static and dynamic partial shadings and analyzed using power curves, power output, losses, efficiencies, and voltage stability. The validation is done by comparing the proposed approach with conventional and advanced architectures for a 32.5 kW system. The results show that the proposed method requires a 50 % reduced switch count than existing techniques, achieves 99.54 % efficiency, and maintains an average voltage stability of 0.01.
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issn 2590-1745
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publishDate 2024-10-01
publisher Elsevier
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series Energy Conversion and Management: X
spelling doaj-art-f079ebff2e6f4c91bb4272028ec808a22025-08-20T02:37:05ZengElsevierEnergy Conversion and Management: X2590-17452024-10-012410071110.1016/j.ecmx.2024.100711Power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approachPriya Ranjan Satpathy0Vigna K. Ramachandaramurthy1Thurga R. Radha Krishnan2Saranya Pulenthirarasa3Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban4Institute of Power Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia; Corresponding authors.Institute of Power Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, MalaysiaInstitute of Power Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, MalaysiaInstitute of Power Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, MalaysiaDepartment of Electrical Engineering, IT and Cybernetics, University of South Eastern Norway, Porsgrunn, Norway; Corresponding authors.Solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants’ performance is severely impacted by multi-level irradiances or partial shading, leading to power losses and voltage instability. Also, partial shading adds further complexity to the maximum power point tracking algorithms by introducing numerous peaks in the power curves, resulting in additional losses. Numerous solutions are presented to deal with shading losses, and dynamic reconfiguration is the most effective; however, higher switch count and complex architecture make it impractical in real-world implementation. Hence, this study proposes a low-complexity architecture based on the grouped string voltage balancing approach. This approach utilizes a voltage balancing converter connected to groups of strings to enhance the power output of the array of PV plants, maintain overall system voltage stability, and eliminate the possibility of multiple peaks formation in the power curves. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is tested under numerous static and dynamic partial shadings and analyzed using power curves, power output, losses, efficiencies, and voltage stability. The validation is done by comparing the proposed approach with conventional and advanced architectures for a 32.5 kW system. The results show that the proposed method requires a 50 % reduced switch count than existing techniques, achieves 99.54 % efficiency, and maintains an average voltage stability of 0.01.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174524001892Photovoltaic (PV)EnergyPartial shadingPower enhancementDynamic reconfiguration
spellingShingle Priya Ranjan Satpathy
Vigna K. Ramachandaramurthy
Thurga R. Radha Krishnan
Saranya Pulenthirarasa
Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban
Power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approach
Energy Conversion and Management: X
Photovoltaic (PV)
Energy
Partial shading
Power enhancement
Dynamic reconfiguration
title Power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approach
title_full Power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approach
title_fullStr Power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approach
title_full_unstemmed Power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approach
title_short Power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approach
title_sort power and efficiency enhancement of solar photovoltaic power plants through grouped string voltage balancing approach
topic Photovoltaic (PV)
Energy
Partial shading
Power enhancement
Dynamic reconfiguration
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174524001892
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AT thurgarradhakrishnan powerandefficiencyenhancementofsolarphotovoltaicpowerplantsthroughgroupedstringvoltagebalancingapproach
AT saranyapulenthirarasa powerandefficiencyenhancementofsolarphotovoltaicpowerplantsthroughgroupedstringvoltagebalancingapproach
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