Model Predictive Control of Two-Tier Converter for Maximum Power Extraction from Photovoltaic System

Renewable energy sources (RESs) have become the most emerging and cost-effective technology to generate electrical power for remote areas. Nevertheless, discontinuity and low performance of the power converters are considered challenges when RESs are used. This paper adopts a newly designed dc-dc converter, the so-called Two-Tier converter (TTC) in the photovoltaic (PV) system to supply dc-load with the required voltage values. Moreover, model predictive control (MPC) is proposed to extract the maximum power from the PV under various radiations. At the same time, a conventional PI controller is used for the dc-dc buck-boost converter to regulate the output dc voltage at the required value. Finally, the battery bank storage is employed to assist in extracting the maximum power through charging and discharging modes. To validate the integration of the system, the MATLAB/Simulink toolbox is used to simulate the dynamics of the entire system and the results confirm the capability of the proposed system with the control algorithms.