Tunicate swarm algorithm based maximum power point tracking for photovoltaic system under non-uniform irradiation

Evi Nafiatus Sholikhah (Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya)
Novie Ayub Windarko (Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya)
Bambang Sumantri (Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya)

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Vol 12, No 5: October 2022

A new maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique based on the bio-inspired metaheuristic algorithm for photovoltaic system (PV system) is proposed, namely tunicate swarm algorithm-based MPPT (TSA-MPPT). The proposed algorithm is implemented on the PV system with five PV modules arranged in series and integrated with DC-DC buck converter. Then, the PV system is tested in a simulation using PowerSim (PSIM) software. TSA-MPPT is tested under varying irradiation conditions both uniform irradiation and non-uniform irradiation. Furthermore, to evaluate the performance, TSA-MPPT is compared with perturb & observe-based MPPT (P&O-MPPT) and particle swarm optimization-based MPPT (PSO-MPPT). The TSA-MPPT has an accuracy of 99% and has a reasonably practical capability compared to the MPPT technique, which already existed before.