An Experimental Investigation on Output Power Enhancement With Offline Reconfiguration for Non-Uniform Aging Photovoltaic Array to Maximise Economic Benefit

Abstract

There are several non-uniform effects on photovoltaic (PV) modules related to aging in a PV array. These subsequently bring about non-uniform operating parameters with individual PV modules, causing a variance in the PV array performance. The current study undertakes an indoor experimental study to establish and positively affect the efficacy of a non-uniform aged 2 $\times 4$ PV array, with a commercially available small panel module of 0.36W (monocrystalline). This paper proposes a gene evolution algorithm (GEA) for offline reconfiguration that can provide more significant output power compared to non-uniformly aged PV arrays through repositioning instead of replacing aged PV modules, which will help lower maintenance expenses. This reconfiguration requires data input from the PV module’s electrical properties in order to select ideal reconfiguration setups. The outcomes show that greater output power can be facilitated through a non-uniformly aged PV array and used on many different PV array sizes.

Keywords

• Solar photovoltaic
• rearrangement
• offline reconfiguration
• non-uniform aging
• gene evaluation algorithm
• output characteristics