New String Reconfiguration Technique for Residential Photovoltaic System Generation Enhancement

Improvement of photovoltaic (PV) power plant performance under partial shading conditions aiming to increase electrical energy generation is in the focus of this research. This paper proposes the performance optimization of PV power plant under partial shading conditions by new PV string reconfiguration technique. The Matlab/Simulink model is used to simulate the operation of the PV string under partial shading conditions and with the proposed recombination technique. Simulated operational conditions have experimentally been verified by string characteristics measurement on the existing roof-top PV system at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad. Simulation and experimental results showed a high degree of matching, while the obtained values proved that proposed method leads to output power increase and higher PV system generation in PV string operation under partial shading.