Maximum Energy Harvest From a TCT Connected PV Array Under Nonhomogeneous Irradiation Conditions

Partial shading in photovoltaic (PV) array causes mismatch loss (ML) and reduces power output. To dilute the concentration of partial shading effect on the array, a novel module relocation technique (MRT) is proposed to improve the power output of the partially shaded PV array. In this proposed technique, the physical position of the modules in totally cross-tied (TCT) configuration is reallocated without disturbing the electrical connections of the modules. The position of module in an array is obtained using the proposed generalized mathematical expressions. The proposed scheme is one-time arrangement at the time of installation, which does not require any sensors, switches, and control algorithm. The simulation results obtained from the proposed configuration are compared with different existing configurations. Also, the performance of the proposed configuration is verified theoretically, in simulation, and experimentally for various partial shading conditions (PSCs). From the results, it is noticed that the performance enhancement (PE) of the proposed configuration ranges from 8.37% to 29.64% of given static shading conditions. As a result, the ML is minimized, which ranges from 1.10% to 3.06%. Finally, the probability of PE in the proposed configuration with respect to Tom–Tom configuration for 300 random shading patterns (SPs) is carried out.