Solar Energy 171 (2018) 593–603

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Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

AI-based global MPPT for partial shaded grid connected PV plant via MFO T
approach
⁎
N. Aouchichea,b,c, , M.S. Aitcheikhb, M. Becherifc, M.A. Ebrahimc,d
a
Renewable Energies Development Center (CDER), B.P. 62, the Observatoire Road, Bouzareah, Algiers, Algeria
b
Electronic Department, Polytechnic National School – ENP – Algiers, Algeria
c
FCLAB FR CNRS 3539, Femto-ST, University of Bourgogne Franche Comte/UTBM, Belfort 90010 Cedex, France
d
Faculty of Engineering at Shoubra, Benha University, 108 Shoubra St, Cairo, Egypt

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The photovoltaic (PV) energy production depends on the conditions surrounding the PV array such as irradiance
Photovoltaic (G), temperature and the array surface state. These factors directly affect the photonic absorption and the
Shading productivity of the PV panels. The phenomenon of partial shading condition (PSC) is one of the problems that
GMPPT disturb the proper operation of PV plants. In the recent literature, several algorithms have been developed to
DMPPT
solve this problem. This paper principally aims at extensively presenting the PSC problem that had been con-
Optimization
sidered by numerous articles and cited in this paper. Then, the paper presents combination of two techniques,
the first one is the Global Maximum Power Point Tracking (GMPPT) for 100 kW array. The second technique is
the Distributed Maximum Power point tracking configuration (DMPPT) for 1 MW PV plant under PSC. This
combination aims to overcome the drawbacks related to PSC and enhance the PV system performance. A novel
technique GMPPT controller is proposed using Moth-Flame Optimization algorithm (MFO) as solution for PSC
shading. A comparative study is performed among different MPPT algorithms such as: Classical Incremental
Conductance algorithm (IC), Fuzzy Logic approach based on IC (FL), Particles Swarms Optimization method
(PSO) and MFO. Simulation results prove the capability of the proposed approach for seeking the GMPPT of the
PV array system.

1. Introduction problems, there is partial shading condition (PSC) (Belhachat and

The worldwide demand for electricity continues to increase.
Therefore, several strategies were adopted in order to valorize other
new energy sources like photovoltaic (PV) energy (De Melo et al., 2013;
Edalati et al., 2016). This energy is inexhaustible, clean environment,
and silent. These properties are of great interest for both scientific and
engineering communities (Garoudja et al., 2017; Su et al., 2012).
Hence, the technological innovations with lower costs of PV modules
leads to the implementation of PV-grid connected plants, particularly
the small ones with Low Voltage (LV) that have emerged progressively
(Li and Oruganti, 2010; Tan et al., 2014).
The grid connected PV system main task is to integrate the PV
electricity into the grid electricity production. In similar case, the en-
ergy produced by the modules is directly consumed by local installation
charges and the possible surplus of production over instant consump-
tion is injected into the grid (Edalati et al., 2016). However, the con-
nection of PV systems to the distribution grid may have some difficul-
ties, which may negatively affect their functionality. Among these
Larbes, 2018; Yeung et al., 2017). Consequently, it is necessary to study
the dynamic behavior of PV systems against disturbances caused by the
PSC and suggest solutions to avoid unjustified disconnections.
Recently, various researches have been conducted on the dynamic
behavior of Global Maximum Power Point Tracking (GMPPT) con-
trollers for PV system (Bizon, 2016a; Boztepe et al., 2014; Liu et al.,
2014). Many controllers have been developed in order to improve their
performance basically in terms of ability of tracking rapidly the GMPP
in presence of multiple local MPP during the PSC (Benyoucef et al.,
2015; Bizon, 2016a; Bouilouta et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2015; Lyden and
Haque, 2015).
Over the years, abundant researches had proposed numerous solu-
tions to solve the problems related to PSC. Among the solutions found
in the literature, the structure reconfiguration is proposed to reduce
shading by offering an optimal configuration of PV system in order to
achieve the GMPP. Tabanjat et al. (2015) had proposed a method based
on the Fuzzy Logic (FL) estimator with the online reconfiguration so-
lution to identify the shaded PV module and to minimize the power

⁎
Corresponding author at: Renewable Energies Development Center (CDER), B.P. 62, the Observatoire Road, Bouzareah, Algiers, Algeria
E-mail address: n.aouchiche@cder.dz (N. Aouchiche).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.06.109
Received 26 November 2017; Received in revised form 27 June 2018; Accepted 28 June 2018
0038-092X/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N. Aouchiche et al. Solar Energy 171 (2018) 593–603

Nomenclature k Boltzmann constant

LP best position of the particle
α ideality factor MFO Moth-Flame Optimization algorithm
CP variation step MPP Maximal power point (kW)
c1 weight of local information n Moths number
c2 weight of global information P&O Perturbation and Observation
D_fitnessi particle’s position PSC partial shading condition
DMPPT Distributed Maximum Power point tracking configuration PSO Particles Swarms Optimization method
d size of the search space in which the moths and flames PV photovoltaic
positions vectors operate PPV output power of PV cell (A) (kW)
FL Fuzzy Logic approach based on IC q electron charge (C)
G irradiance (W/m2) RP shunt resistance (Ω)
GMPP global maximal power point (kW) RS series resistance (Ω)
GMPPT Global Maximum Power Point Tracking rand random variable
GP best position of the swarm Si PV string
IC Classical Incremental of Conductance algorithm. T temperature (K)
Im optimal current (A) V velocity
Iph photo-current proportional to the illumination Vm optimal voltage (V)
IPV output current of PV cell (A) VPV output voltage (V)
IS diode saturation current (A) w inertia weight

losses (Tabanjat et al., 2015). Carotenuto et al. (2015) had presented
the genetic algorithm for the PV array dynamical reconfiguration. This
technique is designed to determine the optimal electrical connection for
an embedded PV system (Carotenuto et al., 2015). Parlak (2015) had
suggested the configuration scanning algorithm to define the probable
connection structures. This approach uses only short circuit current in
order to get PV modules of same PV string that have close short circuit
current values as possible (Parlak, 2014). Pareek and Dahiya (2016)
had developed a novel method to forecast the interconnection of
modules in a Total-Cross-Tied (TCT) connected PV array. This method is
based on certain rules for PV modules shaded or unshaded connection
that is used for total or partial PV array configuration (Pareek and
Dahiya, 2016).
The classic MPPT techniques such as the Incremental Conductance
(IC) has good dynamic performance for uniform irradiance (G) condi-
tions (Aouchiche et al., 2016). However, this failed during PSC because
the P-V curve comprises multiples peaks. Therefore, IC might be im-
prisoned by local MPP (Kheldoun et al., 2016; Lyden and Haque, 2015;
Mao, 2016). Bizon (2016) had proposed a novel GMPPT algorithm
based on the Perturbed-based Extremum Seeking Scheme (GPESC)
(Bizon, 2016b). Liu et al. (2014) Had introduced a two-stage GMPP
tracking algorithm which consists of the segmentation rules after per-
forming variable step-size perturb and observe approach to modify the
GMPPT speed (Liu et al., 2014). Spertino et al. (2016) had proposed a
method that performs the tracing of I-V curve of a PV system from on-
site measurements without interrupting the normal operation of the PV
system. The simulations and experimental results had confirmed that
the algorithm ability to measure the characteristic curve and to return
the voltage and current values at the GMPP under different shading
conditions (Spertino et al., 2016).
Based on the current literature, the GMPPT methods are the most
appropriate methods to solve PSC problems (Liu et al., 2015; Lyden and
Haque, 2015). Among of papers that had been focused on the artificial
intelligence (AI) based GMPPT algorithm. Shah and Rajagopalan
(2016) used the FL approach to track the GMPPT. A comparative study
had been performed to validate the algorithm robustness (Shah and
Rajagopalan, 2016). Choudhury and Rout (2016) had applied the FL
base GMPPT algorithm. The simulation evaluation had certified that the
proposed technique is better than P&O in terms of tracking ability and
dynamic response speed (Choudhury and Rout, 2016). Zhou et al.
(2015) had presented an intelligent fuzzy controller for tracking the
GMPP during PSC (Zhou et al., 2015). Belhachat et al. (2017) had
proposed MPPT controller based on adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference
system (ANFIS) that can reach the GMPP effectively under different
shading patterns (Belhachat and Larbes, 2017).
Various others researches, that had used different kind of meta-
heuristic approaches for GMPPT, had been achieved such as: Kheldoun
et al. (2016) had applied the golden section optimization algorithm to
track the MPP for fast changing conditions and PSC (Kheldoun et al.,
2016). Huynh et al. (2013) had used a dynamic particle swarm opti-
mization (PSO) algorithm. According to the simulation results, this al-
gorithm is superior than PSO and Perturbation and Observation (P&O)
algorithms (Huynh et al., 2013). Sakthigokulrajan et al. (2017) had
created a modified particle swarm optimization technique (MPSO). The
authors attest that the MPSO main advantage is the steady state oscil-
lation reduction if the MPP is reached (Sakthigokulrajan and Ravi,
2017). Mao (2016) had developed the modified artificial fish swarm
algorithm (MAFSA) that aims to attain the GMPP under PSC. The ex-
perimental results had revealed that the proposed approach outper-
forms the proposed GMPPT techniques (Mao, 2016). Kaced et al. the
MPPT method using the bat algorithm to attain the GMPP under PSC
(Kaced et al., 2017). Benyoucef et al. (2015) had developed Artificial
Bee Colony-based MPPT algorithm (ABC) that had been experimentally
validated in terms of robustness and effectiveness (Benyoucef et al.,
2015). Mohanty et al. (2016) had proposed a Grey Wolf Optimization
based MPPT technique (GWO). According to the experimental study,
the GWO outperforms both P&O and improved PSO (IPSO) (Mohanty
et al., 2016). Titri et al.(2017) had suggested a new bio- inspired MPPT
controller based on the Ant Colony Optimization algorithm with a New
Pheromone Updating strategy (ACO_NPU MPPT) to track GMPP (Titri
et al., 2017).
The Distributed Maximum Power point tracking configuration
(DMPPT) is another important solution that had been considered by
several researches, Femia et al (2008) had studied the system para-
meters impact on efficiency and steadiness of DMPPT technique (Femia
Fig. 1. The equivalent PV cell electric model.

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2015).
The major contribution of this paper is to propose GMPPT algorithm
to deal with the problem of partial shading. The suggested algorithm is
Moth-Flame Optimization (MFO) based on optimization of power at the
output of the boost converter. In this paper, a brief presentation of the
PV panels’ model applied in this study is given. Then a comparative
analysis is carried out in order to highlight the dynamic performance of
MFO compared to other algorithms such as IC, FL and PSO.
The first part of this paper gives a comprehensive state of the art on
PSC problems, GMPPT and DMPPT algorithms and the appropriate
hardware architectures to solve the PSC problem. The second part
presents cases study of GMPPT and DMPPT algorithms in favor of im-
proving the PV system dynamic behaviors in terms of tracking ability,
rapidity, and stability.
Fig. 2. PV String of 1.5 kW. The rest of this article includes a section on the PV system and the
problem of shading followed by a section that gives an overview on the
Table 1 MPPT technology. Section 4 presents the performance of each tech-
PV module characteristics. nique in the simulation and results section. The paper ends with a
Model Number of Vm (V) Im (A) MPP (W) ISC (A) VOC (V)
conclusion summarizes the results, objectives and perspectives of this
PV cells work.

SunPower SPR- 96 54.7 5.58 305.22 5.96 64.2

305 WHT
2. PV system

The used PV array is a set of PV modules that are interconnected in

et al., 2008). Solórzano et al. (2013) had presented a procedure for fault series or in parallel in favor to have the desired voltage (VPV) and power
diagnosis in PV systems with DMPPT architecture (Solórzano and (PPV). Each PV module consists of 96 PV cells connected in series. Fig. 1
Egido, 2013). Muthuramalingam et al (2014) had considered the describes the PV cell electric model.
DMPPT configuration and had focused on the experimental compar- The mathematical model of PV cell electric model is given by
isons of hybrid P&O–ANFIS and PSO–ANFIS techniques (Aouchiche et al., 2016; Zaoui et al., 2013):
(Muthuramalingam and Manoharan, 2014). Carbone (2015) had sug-
q·(VPV + IPV ·RS ) ⎤ ⎤ VPV + IPV ·RS
gested DMPPT with a centralized energy storage PV plants (Carbone, IPV = Iph−IS1 ⎡exp ⎡ −1 −
⎢
⎣ ⎣ α·k·T ⎦ ⎦⎥ RP (1)

Fig. 3. I-V and P-V characteristics of 1.5 kW PV string and 100 kW PV array.

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Table 2
PV performance under different shading patterns.
PV string PV array

Pattern Shading pattern Vm (V) Im (A) MPP (kW) V (V) Im (A) MPP (kW)

Pt1 [1000,1000,1000,1000,1000] 272.8 5.568 1.519 272.7 367.3 100.2

Pt2 [1000,800,600,500,300] 229.1 2.883 0.605 275 251.6 69.20
Pt3 [900,600,600,400,300] 222.8 2.284 0.509 274.7 214.5 58.82

Fig. 4. Flow chart of the IC and the FL algorithms.

IPV and VPV are the output current and voltage of PV cell, IS and α are
the diode saturation current and ideality factor respectively. RP and RS
are the shunt and series resistances respectively. T is the temperature in
Kelvin, q is an electron elementary charge and k is the boltzmann
constant (Hajighorbani, 2015; Osaji et al., 2013; Rahrah et al., 2015).
Iph is the photo-current proportional to the illumination.
2.1. Effect of partial shading conditions
The PSC is a natural phenomenon, which results in the reduction of
incident G on part of the PV array. This phenomenon may be caused by
a few obstacles such as: passing cloud, deposit of dirt or snow, the
presence of building and electric lines… etc. The current flowing
through the shaded PV cells will be reduced and the voltage will be

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Fig. 5. FL controller model.

Fig. 6. Membership functions of the inputs (E, CE) and the output (dD) vari-
ables.

Table 3
FL rules. Fig. 7. Flow chart of the PSO.
E CE
Zhou and Sun, 2015). The bypass diode is associated with each PV
BN SN ZE SP BP
module in parallel. Its task is to shunt the PV module when a part of this
BN ZE ZE BP BP BP module is shaded, then, the by-pass diode conducts the current and
SN ZE ZE SP SP SP isolates the shaded module of the string to which it belongs in favor to
ZE SP ZE ZE ZE SN avoid the undesired Hot-Spot effects (Murtaza et al., 2014). The
SP SN SN SN ZE ZE blocking diode is considered as a one way valve that avoids the current
BP BN BN BN ZE ZE
flowing back between the PV strings connected in parallel, when there
is a shading on one of them or in the absence of sunlight (Murtaza et al.,
increased for these PV cells which creates the hot spot problem that can 2014).
damaged the PV modules (Pareek and Dahiya, 2016; Parlak, 2014; Pati In Fig. 3, the tests are performed for both uniform G conditions and
and Sahoo, 2016). In addition, the rest of PV cells performance is af- PSC in the case (a) of a string S1 and the case (b) of 66 PV strings
fected by the reduction of the current. Therefore, the inverter perfor- connected in parallel, whose 30 PV strings are shaded and the rest of
mance is considerably reduced in terms of efficiency. the PV array are uniformly illuminated.
Fig. 2 illustrates the suggested PV system for the simulation of PSC. Fig. 3(b) represents the I-V and P-V curves of 1.5 kW PV string (S1),
The first simulation considers one PV string S1 of 5 modules connected which consists of 5 modules connected in series.
in series. The used PV module characteristics are given in the Table 1. Fig. 3(a) gives the I-V and P-V characteristics of 100 kW PV array
The second phase is devoted to the 100 kW PV array that consists of that includes sixty six (66) PV strings connected in parallel (S1-S66).
sixty-six (66) PV strings (S1-S66) interconnected in parallel as shown in These curves were obtained under a uniform G of 1000 W/m2, which
Fig. 2. According to Fig. 3, the I-V and P-V curves had been performed corresponds to the pattern (Pt1) and under PSC that corresponds to the
under uniform G conditions and PSC in case of one string (S1) and in patterns Pt2 and Pt3 as shown in Table 2. For each pattern, the Table 2
the case of PV array (S1-S66). gives the maximal values of voltage (Vm), current (Im) and power
In order to ensure the PV array protection, it is necessary to provide (MPP) that allow to find the GMPP.
bypass diode and blocking diode (Ramli et al., 2017; Yeung et al., 2017; According to Pt2 and Pt3, I-V and P-V curves are characterized by

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et al., 2014):
dP d (V ·I ) dV dI dI
= = I· + V· =I+
dV dV dV dV dV (2)

dP dI I
=0⇒E= +
dV dV V (3)

3.2. Fuzzy logic (FL)

According to Fig. 4, the FL is an AI-based approach. That is used to

offer an enhancement of the classic IC algorithm in terms of robustness,
stability and easy implementation (Rezvani and Gandomkar, 2016;
Tabanjat et al., 2015). The principal FL controller job is to reach the
GMPP. However, the controller performance depends essentially on the
human expertise (Rezvani and Gandomkar, 2016).
As shown in Fig. 5, the proposed FL controller includes four basic
parts: fuzzification unit, rules base, inference engine, and defuzzifica-
tion unit (Aouchiche et al., 2017; Rajesh and Mabel, 2014).
The fuzzification unit converts the real variables to fuzzy ones. E(k)
and CE(k) are the FL controller inputs given by Eqs. ((4) and (5)). The
PV voltage and current are measured for the calculation of the PV
power E(k) as in (4). The FL controller output is dD, which is the
variable step size of the duty cycle.
(I (k )−I (k−1)) I (k )
E (k ) = +
(V (k )−V (k−1)) V (k ) (4)

CE (k ) = E (k )−E (k−1) (5)

• Among the different forms of membership functions (trapezoidal,

Fig. 8. Flow chart of the MFO (Mirjalili, 2015).
several peaks that are due to the insertion of the bypass diode in the PV
array.
3. MPPT techniques
3.1. Incremental conductance (IC)
The IC algorithm is one of popular MPPT algorithms. According to
Fig. 4, this method is based on measuring the voltage and the current in
order to determine the MPP position (Aouchiche et al., 2016). Ac-
cording to Eq. (2), IC uses derivative power function (dP/dV) to define
the operating point position compared to MPP. MPP is attained when
Eq. (3) is satisfied (Lyden and Haque, 2015; Othman et al., 2012; Radjai
Gaussian and triangular …etc.), the symmetrical triangular shape is
considered the most appropriate one besides its simplicity. The
range limits of fuzzy variables are usually normalized between −1
and +1 by introducing a gain factor to represent the real signals
(Soufi et al., 2016). In this study, the symmetrical triangular shape
has been selected and the limits are considered as ([−0.04, 0.04],
[−100, 100] and [−0.04, 0.04]) for (E, CE, and dD) respectively.
According to the simulation data, these limits are chosen upon
successive tests by the authors to reach the input and the output real
signal values. Fig. 6 displays the selected membership functions of E,
CE, and dD. The fuzzy inference is performed using Mamdani’s
method (Ramalu et al., 2015). The variables are expressed such as
(BP: Big Positive), (SP: Small Positive), (ZE: Zero), (SN: Small Ne-
gative), (BN: Big Negative) (Ebrahim et al., 2012; El-Metwally et al.,
2013; Farhat et al., 2015).
Table 3 gives the used rules that ensure the relationship between the
FL controller inputs and output. The symmetrical rule base is usually
used for constant increasing systems (Ebrahim et al., 2012). The cen-
troid defuzzification method is the most generally utilized as it is very

Fig. 9. 100 kW PV system grid connected.

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Fig. 10. Dynamic performance for 100 kW grid connected PV system under PSC.

Table 4 Vi (t ) + c1 ∗rand1 (LPi (t )−Dfitnessi (t )) ⎞

Vi (t + 1) = w∗⎛ ⎜ ⎟
Dynamic behaviors for GMPPT techniques during [0 s, 2 s].
⎝ + c2 ∗rand2 ∗ (GP (t )−Dfitnessi (t )) ⎠
IC FL PSO MFO (6)
Rise time (s) 0.06320 0.05340 0.04900 0.049710
Settling time at 5% (s) 0.16270 0.0726 0.05670 0.05464 D_fitnessi (t + 1) = D_fitnessi (t ) + Vi (t + 1) (7)
Overshoot (%) 1.4087 0.0928 0.0127 0.0029
Extracted power (kW) 66.59 68.7639 69.0874 69.1680
Peak power (kW) 68.1291 69.01 69.15 69.17 • D_fitness : particle’s position.
i
Steady error (%) 3.772 0.630 0.162 0.046
• V: velocity.
GMPPT efficiency (%) 96.22
−
99.33 99.83 99.91
• c : weight of local information.
1

• c : weight of global information.

Convergence + ++ +++
2

• w: Inertia weight.
accurate and it has good averaging proprieties (Rahim et al., 2014; Wu • LP: best position of the particle.
et al., 2011). This method calculates the output dD as the gravity • GP: best position of the swarm.
center. • rand: random variable.

3.3. Particles swarm optimization 3.4. Moth-flame optimization algorithm

Inspired by social behavior of fish and birds, James Kennedy and
Russell Eberhart, developed a stochastic optimization technique called
PSO in 1995 (Shi et al., 2015; Soufi et al., 2016). The PSO, displayed in
Fig. 7, is very efficient algorithm in global search and it is easy to im-
plement with few parameters to adjust.
Such as several meta-heuristics techniques that exist, this optimi-
zation method is based on the collective work and self-organizing
particle belonging to the same group (Sakthigokulrajan and Ravi, 2017;
Shi et al., 2015). The PSO is considered as a GMPPT approach that
provides the best duty cycle (D) in order to get the GMPP (Lyden and
Haque, 2015). This technique follows rules of movement (in the space
of solutions), enabling these particles to converge gradually to their
random positions on a local optimum (optima). The particle position
and speed are corrected according to its present speed, the best of
neighbor’s Local Positions obtained (LP) is considered as the best Global
Position (GP). The PSO is based on the following update rules according
to Eqs. ((6) and (7)) (Lyden and Haque, 2015; Sakthigokulrajan and
Ravi, 2017; Shi et al., 2015):
Moth-Flame Optimization (MFO) algorithm is new meta-heuristic
optimization that was developed by Mirjalili (2015). This technique is
based on the moth behavior to converge towards a light source (flame).
The moth flies by keeping a constant angle with respect to the moon.
This process is called transverse orientation (Li et al., 2016; Mirjalili,
2015). Since the artificial light is the nearest light source, it becomes
the new reference for the moth moving. However, the moth is tricked
by artificial light because it is forced to correct permanently its path in
order to maintain the fixed angle. This behavior engenders unsuccessful
or deadly spiral fly path for moths (Li et al., 2016; Mirjalili, 2015).
The MFO optimization approach is based on the moths and the
flames populations that are moving in the search space. the Eqs. ((8)
and (9)) reveal that the moths are grouped in the matrix M and the
flames are represented by the matrix F. M and F have the same di-
mension n * d (Li et al., 2016; Mirjalili, 2015).
n: Moths number.
d: Size of the search space in which the moths and flames positions
vectors operate.

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Fig. 11. Dynamic response in the step down case for 100 kW grid connected PV system under PSC.

Fig. 12. 1 MW grid connected PV system with DMPPT architecture.

⎡ M(1, 1) ⋯ M(1, d) ⎤ ⎡ F(1, 1) ⋯ F(1, d) ⎤

M=⎢ ⋮ M(i, j) ⋮ ⎥ F=⎢ ⋮ F(i, j) ⋮ ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎣ M(n, 1) ⋯ M(n, d) ⎦ (8) ⎣ F(n, 1) ⋯ F(n, d) ⎦ (9)

It should be noted that OM is the update vector of M according to

the objective function (fobj) and OF is the update vector of OM as
shown in Eqs. (10)–(13).

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Fig. 13. Dynamic behavior of power for 1 MW grid connected PV system under different G.

OM = [OM1⋯.OMi ⋯.OMn ] (10) MFO based controller aims to get the best gain value (Ki) to minimize
the error (dI/dV + I/V) according to the flow chart in Fig. 8.
OF = [OF1⋯.OFi⋯.OFn] (11)

F = sort(Mt − 1, Mt ) (12) 4. Simulation results

OF = sort(OMt − 1, OMt ) (13)
This paper aims to test the ability of the proposed GMPPT methods
To search the optimal solutions, MFO executes 4 main functions to track the GMPP during the PSC. The simulations are performed using
which are: MATLAB™. The suggested GMPPT methods for this comparative study
are: IC, FL, PSO and MFO. Fig. 9 represents the 100 kW PV-grid con-
1. The moths positions initialization, consists of the creation of M: nected system. The PV array consists of two blocks, the first is 54 kW
M(i, j) = rand(n, d). ∗ (ub−lb) + lb (14) which is modeled to have 36 strings in parallel. The second block of
46 kW includes 30 strings connected in parallel. The PV array is con-

•
nected to the boost converter that operates with MPPT controller. The
rand: random distribution function.
converter output voltage and current are converted by three-phase in-
2. To check the research space of moths and to calculate the
verter to produce AC signals. This PV system is coupled to the dis-
moths fitness:
tribution line via 100 kVA transformer.
M(i, :) = (M(i, :). ∗ ( (Fub + Flb))) + ubb . ∗Fub + lb. ∗Flb (15) Fig. 10 provides the dynamic performance of PV power, PV voltage,
duty cycle and grid power. First, the proposed PV system is tested under
OM(i) = fobj(M(i, :)) (16)
a constant PSC case that corresponds to pattern Pt2 at T = 25 °C. Ac-
cording to Fig. 10 and Table 4, the IC technique presents the worst
3. Update the best position and values of flames: statistic parameters and its dynamic behaviors including the important
Best−flame−score = OF(1) (17) ripples that negatively affects the PV system operation. The FL provides
the shorter settling time and follows correctly the variation of G. PSO
Best−flame−position = F(1, :) (18) technique is able to track correctly the GMPP. However, its dynamic
performance is slightly less than MFO. The statistic parameters given in
4. Update the moths position with considering the flames posi- Table 4 are enhanced using the MFO. Therefore, the extracted PV power
tions: (69.15 kW) is closest to optimal PV power (69.20 kW) given in Table 2
with efficiency and static error of 99.91% and 0.046% respectively. The
M(i, j) = S(M(i, j), F(i, j)) = Distance(i) ∗exp(b. ∗t). ∗cos(t. ∗2∗pi)
simulation results reveal that the MFO is superior to the other proposed
+ F(i, j) (19) methods in terms of a tracking ability efficiency and stability.
The second case study deals with the performance comparison of
Distance(i) = |F(i, j)−M(i, j)| (20)
the four proposed GMPPT methods under variable PSC. Therefore, the
Distance: The distance between the moth positions and the corre- simulation is performed under T = 25 °C using Pt2 and Pt3 listed in
sponding flame. Table 2. Fig. 11 shows that between 0 s and 2 s, the PSC corresponds to
S: The spiral function (Li et al., 2016; Mirjalili, 2015). Pt2 pattern and during [2 s, 4 s]. The Pt3 pattern is applied to PV array.
The paper proposes MFO as an enhancement of the classical IC. The The G step-down case is achieved at t = 2 s. According to Fig. 11, the

601
N. Aouchiche et al.
simulation results prove that FL, PSO and MFO algorithms are able to
follow the step-down in order to reach the GMPP. However, the IC
dynamic response contains undesired chattering that is considered ha-
zardous disadvantage for PV system. It is obvious that the extracted PV
Power and Grid Power that correspond to MFO and PSO are better than
that of the FL and IC techniques. The dynamic behaviors of MFO is
slightly superior to that of the PSO.
According to Fig. 12, the third case study proposes a 1 MW grid
connected PV system with DMPPT configuration. The 1 MW PV plant
consists of 10 parallel connected PV array supplying each a maximum
of 100 kW at 1000 W/m2 sun G. A single PV array comprises of 66
parallel PV strings. Each PV string is connected to grid via its own boost
converter and three-phase inverter. The DMPPT deals with the control
of each boost converter by the individual GMPPT controller in order to
extract the GMPP from each individual PV array.
Fig. 13 shows the operation of each individual PV array system
under varying G. During [0 s, 2 s], all PV arrays are lighted with
1000 W/m2 as presented in Fig. 13(a), excepted the PV array 2 whose G
corresponds to Pt1. During [2 s, 5 s], this G decreases from Pt1 to Pt2,
according to Fig. 13(b). Fig. 13(c and d) displays PV power response of
PV array 4 and PV array 5 respectively. At t = 3.5 s, their corresponding
G suddenly decrease to 400 W/m2 and 600 W/m2 respectively.
Fig. 13(e) demonstrates that the suggested methods follow properly the
G variation and the MFO provides a grid power dynamic performance
more efficient than dynamic behavior provided by FL and IC. The MFO
is superior in terms of efficiency stability and robustness.
5. Conclusion
This paper presents a literature review that exposes problem related
to the PSC phenomenon and provides the comparative study of the
different GMPP techniques. Then, the MFO technique had been pro-
posed as a novel approach for optimal exploitation of PV sources under
PSC. In this undesired case, the dynamic performance of conventional
IC algorithm are limited because the extracted power does not attain
the GMPP. The simulation results reveal that the MFO exhibits superior
performance when compared with the other proposed methods such as
IC, FL and PSO in terms of tracking ability, efficiency and steady state.
In the second case study, the paper proposes the DMPPT technique
and analyses its impact on the dynamic behavior of 1 MW grid con-
nected PV Farm. The work aims to introduce the DMPPT architecture,
which provides for each 100 kW PV string its own boost Converter and
three-phase inverter. This DC-DC converter is controlled by a MFO
based GMPPT controller that locally overcomes the drawbacks that are
associated to mismatch phenomena. The DMPPT deals with providing
the optimal sum of the maximum powers extracted from the PV strings.
According to the simulation results, the DMPPT revealed a great per-
formance in terms of efficiency and robustness in the face of the brutal
change such as the PSC.
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