Agro Fossil Free - Comparative study of P&O-PI and fuzzy-PI MPPT controllers and their optimisation using GA and PSO for photovoltaic water pumping systems

General Description

Among the major issues of modern times: water supply, either for domestic consumption or for agriculture (livestock and irrigation), particularly in rural areas and isolated sites where access to conventional energy is very difficult. This phenomenon has led to a growing interest in the use of photovoltaic generators as a new source of energy. However, the output characteristics of the photovoltaic (PV) generator are nonlinear and vitally affected by weather conditions. In order to maximise the output power from a solar array, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method should be used as a control strategy to track the maximum output power operating point under different operating conditions. In this paper, control strategies for MPPT are proposed for photovoltaic water pumping system. Control methods of perturb and observe (P&O)-proportional integral (PI), fuzzy logic-PI (FL-PI), and optimisation of these controllers using genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimisation (PSO) are proposed. The simulation results are presented and discussed to show the effectiveness of the FL-PI controller optimised by PSO regarding the other methods, in terms of efficiency, stability and productivity in the steady-state operation.