Abstract
The performance of a photovoltaic array is affected by temperature, solar insolation, partial shading effect, and array configuration. Maximum power point tracking(MPPT) techniques are employed in photovoltaic systems to make full utilization of the PV array output power which depends on solar irradiation and ambient temperature. As much as MPPT is important in photovoltaic systems, many MPPT techniques have been developed. In this paper, several major existing MPPT methods are comparatively analyzed and novel hybrid MPPT algorithm is proposed. The proposed hybrid MPPT algorithm is developed in combination with traditional MPPT methods to complement each other for improving performance and mitigating partial shading effects. The proposed algorithm is implemented and validated using MATLAB/Simulink simulation tool.