Comparative Study of Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques for Photovoltaic Systems

Table 1

Comparison among constant voltage, P&O, and incremental conductance MPPT control techniques.

Method	Advantages	Disadvantages
Fixed duty cycle	(i) Inherent simplicity; (ii) Use of a pulse width modulator to drive the dc-dc converter	(i) Low efficiency in terms of the extracted power
Constant voltage	(i) Easy implementation; (ii) Use of a single voltage sensor	(i) Appreciable steady-state error due to the difference between and
Perturb and observe	(i) Operation close to the MPP	(i) Relative complex implementation; (ii) Employment of two sensors (voltage and current); (iii) Need to choose between speed and accuracy
Incremental conductance	(i) Variable step; (ii) Fast and precise technique	(i) Employment of two sensors (voltage and current); (ii) Complex implementation due to calculation of derivatives