Performance Analysis of High gain DC-DC Converter for Solar PV Applications

The conventional energy resources continue to experience a depleting trend particularly with the growing energy demand to support the ongoing automation phase in the industries. Besides the other challenges include environmental issues in the form of global warming and increasing concerns of pollution to the atmosphere. It invites attention to exploring the use of renewable sources and among the many options Solar PV systems draw a greater attention. However, the non-linear nature of the I-V characteristic of the solar cell allows the delivery of the maximum power only at a specific point called Maximum Power Point, which depends on the solar irradiance, cell temperature and load conditions. The immediate requirement relates to improving the efficiency of the Solar PV system and therefore the focus orients to introduce a high gain DC-DC converter interface between the Solar PV and the load, with a purpose to envisage the transfer of power at a high efficiency. The methodology resorts to evaluating the performance using MATLAB based simulation for the chosen system and establishing its merits over the use of the conventional boost converter.