Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for Peak Power Point Tracking of a Photovoltaic System under Partial Shading Condition

Tracking of true Maximum Power Point (MPP) is essential for an efficient Photovoltaic (PV) system. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controller is very important for harvesting utmost power from the solar panel. In PV system the partial shading phenomenon will cause the change in output characteristics which will results in multiple peaks in the PV curve. This leads to tracking of global maximum power point is difficult with the help of conventional MPPT techniques. In order to eliminate the problems rised due to the partial shading conditions, it is necessary to implement a better MPPT technique for tracking true MPP. In the present work, Artificial Bee Colony algorithm is considered for obtaining the true Maximum Power Point under partial shading condition. A MATLAB/Simulink model and simulation results are also presented in this paper.