Experimentation of MPPT Control Driving a Buck Converter with PV Module Disturbances and Variable Load in a Nanogrid

The objective of this paper is to perform a laboratory test on the performance of MPPT control in a nanogrid. The components used for tests are described, namely (i) a PV module SPP031001200 manufactured by Victron energy, a prototype of a synchronous buck converter controlled by Arduino Atmel ATmega V-2560, and a DC electronic load programmable 72-13210 manufactured by TENMATM. Among several MPPT controls, the choice falls on the methods Perturb and Observe “P&O” and Increment of the conductance “INC” which are more widely used than others. Laboratory tests with different PV module conditions and variable output voltage were performed. In full sunlight, the input power of the buck converter gives a better result with the INC method compared to the P&O method. For a PV module exposed to horizontal or vertical total shading, INC method gives a small advantage compared to the P&O method, which can be beneficial for a long time. Compared to the P&O method, INC method always gives better results due to its more complex algorithm. Due to the lack of measuring instruments, the different tests were performed without considering irradiance and temperature.