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In order to operate a solar photovoltaic (PV) system at its maximum power point (MPP) under numerous weather conditions, it is necessary to achieve uninterrupted optimal power production and to minimize energy losses, energy generation cost, and payback time. Under partial shading conditions (PSC), the formation of multiple peaks in the power voltage characteristic curve of a PV cell puzzles conventional MPP tracking (MPPT) algorithms trying to identify the global MPP (GMPP). Meanwhile, soft-computing MPPT algorithms can identify the GMPP even under PSC. Drawbacks such as structural complexity, computational complexity, huge memory requirements, and difficult implementation all affect the viability of soft-computing algorithms. However, those drawbacks have been successfully overcome with a novel ten check algorithm (TCA). To improve the performance of the TCA in terms of MPPT speed and efficiency, a novel concept of data arrangement is introduced in this paper. The proposed structure is referred to as Optimized TCA (OTCA). A comparison of the proposed OTCA and classic TCA algorithms was conducted for standard benchmarks. The results proved the superiority of the OTCA algorithm compared to both TCA and flower pollination (FPA) algorithms. The major advantage of OTCA in MPPT stems from its speed as compared to TCA and FPA, with almost 86% and 90% improvement, respectively.

In this study, we have presented an optimal microgrid design that ensures the uninterrupted energy supply to Mirpur University of Engineering and Technology (MUST), Azad Jammu and Kashmir AJK, Pakistan at the cheapest price by using reliable energy resources. The availability of energy resources, environmental viability, and economic feasibility are the key parameters of design. The available resources for the MUST site include the National grid, Solar photovoltaic (SPV), Battery bank, and Diesel generator. The data of electrical load, solar illumination, atmospheric temperature at the university, diesel fuel cost, SPV module lifetime, SPV degradation factor, SPV efficiency, SPV cost, battery cost, battery life, national grid energy price, load shedding and toxic emissions have been considered valuables in designing the hybrid micro-grid. The difference in net present cost (NPC) of the optimal design and the worst design is calculated by considering the above parameters. The proposed optimal microgrid design supplies energy to the load using SPV, Diesel generator, and battery bank with NPC of $250,546 and the renewable fraction of 99%. Whereas the worst design includes the Diesel generator and battery bank as energy supplying sources with the NPC of $2.14 M and a renewable fraction of 0%. Simulations performed using HOMER Pro software (HOMER Energy, HOMER Pro-3.11, Boulder, CO, USA) proved that after considering all the data and requirements mentioned above, out of 979 feasible designs, the proposed hybrid microgrid design is best suitable for MUST.

The inconsistent irradiance, temperature, and unexpected behavior of the weather affect the output of photovoltaic (PV) systems, classified as partial or complex partial shading conditions. Under these circumstances, obtaining the maximum output power from PV systems becomes problematic. This paper proposes a population-based optimization model, the horse herd optimization algorithm (HOA), inspired by natural behavior, to solicit the maximum power under partial or complex partial shading conditions. It is an intelligent strategy inspired by the surprise pounce-chasing style of the horse herd model. The proposed technique outperforms the standard in different weather conditions, needs less computational time, and has a fast convergence speed and zero oscillations after reaching a power point’s maximum limit. A performance comparison of the HOA is achieved with conventional techniques, such as “perturb and observe” (P&O), the bio-inspired adaptive cuckoo search optimization (ACS), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and the dragonfly algorithm (DA). The following comparison of the presented scheme with the other techniques shows its better performance with respect to fast tracking and efficiency, as well as stability under disparate weather conditions and the ability to obtain maximum power with negligible oscillation under partial and complex shading.

The world’s attention has turned towards renewable energy due to escalating energy demands, declining fossil fuel reservoirs, greenhouse gas emissions, and the unreliability of conventional energy systems. The sun is the only renewable energy source that is available every day for a specific period of time. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is known for its direct conversion of sunlight into electricity using the photoelectric effect. However, due to the non-linear electrical characteristics, the power output of solar PV cells is bound to a lower value and can not produce the power of which it is capable. To extract the maximum possible power, the PV cell needs to be operated at its maximum power point (MPP) uninterruptedly under numerous weather conditions. Therefore, an electronic circuit driven by a set of rules known as an algorithm is utilized. To date, the flower pollination algorithm (FPA) is one of the most renowned maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms due to its effective tracking ability at the local and global positions. After an in-depth analysis of the design, strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of the FPA algorithm, we have proposed an additional filtration and distribution process named “Random walk” along with the ordering of solutions, to improve its efficiency and tracking time. The proposed structure named “Ordered FPA” has outperformed the renowned FPA algorithm under various weather conditions at all the standard benchmarks. Simulations are performed in MATLAB/Simulink.

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