<![CDATA[Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) has become an important area of research to optimize the power generated by photovoltaic (PV) systems, particularly under various configurations such as series and parallel. Conventional methods, including Perturb and Observe (P&O) and Incremental Conductance (InC), often fail under dynamic or partial shading conditions, while metaheuristic algorithms such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) provide global optimization but still suffer from slow convergence and power oscillations. This study proposes a hybrid MPPT approach by combining PSO and SSA to overcome these limitations. The algorithm was implemented in MATLAB/Simulink and tested under 96 scenarios covering series and parallel configurations with irradiance and temperature variations that change both suddenly (< 1 s) and gradually (> 1 s). Simulation results demonstrate that the hybrid PSO–SSA consistently achieves faster convergence compared to standalone PSO or SSA, with an average convergence time of 0.286 s in the series configuration (25–36% faster) and 0.282–0.284 s in parallel configuration, while achieving comparable power output to PSO. Overall, the proposed hybrid PSO–SSA algorithm provides a faster, more adaptive, and robust MPPT strategy under realistic PV operating conditions, contributing to reducing energy losses in fluctuating environments.]]>
