Dynamic Reconfiguration of Electrical Connections for partially shaded PV Modules: Technical and Economical Performances of an Arduino-based Prototype

Abstract

The solar energy is an ever-growing power source among all the renewable ones. Several issues shall be faced by power engineers as far as the design of photovoltaic (PV) plants is concerned. One of these consists in the “partial shadingâ€, that is the non-uniform irradiation on different cells of the same PV module or different modules of the same PV plant. The partial shading leads to undesired effects, such as the electrical mismatch, with possible generation of hot spots, and generally to a decreased production of electric energy. To mitigate the partial shading effects, different methods are feasible. Among them, the dynamic reconfiguration of the electrical connections between modules represents an effective solution. In this paper, an algorithm of reconfiguration for a small-scale PV plant is proposed and the experimental results showing the related benefits in terms of energy recovery are reported.