Optimization of a Grid Connected Photovoltaic System using Fuzzy Logic Control

Solar Photovoltaic energy generating system is one of the auspicious renewable energy resources that use the ample energy from the sun with clean, inexhaustible and environment friendly cyclic operations. However, the intermittent nature of the output power of PV systems reduces their reliability in delivering continuous power to customers. In this work, we propose an efficient and precise technique using a fuzzy controller and simulated in MATLAB environment, for tracking maximum power point in PV system. The fuzzy Logic model results were compared with other methods such as Perturb and Observe (P&O) and Proportional Integral Differential (PID) for validation. The results show that the Fuzzy Logic Controller, an Artificial Intelligence technique under various conditions was able to track the peak power point under lesser time - it took the fuzzy model less than 0.4 secs to attain maximum power while the other controllers took more than 0.7 and 0.8 seconds respectively. It was also observed that the fuzzy logic controller showed greater stability when the maximum power point was attained than the other controller. Hence the fuzzy logic controller gave a better overall performance than other conventional controllers.