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Overview of PV Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques 125

their operation. Thus, the economic burden imposed on the cost of the total PV power processing
interface is minimized and its flexibility to adapt to different operating conditions (e.g., installation
in alternative sites) is increased. Also, the MPPT methods, which require knowledge of one or more
operational characteristics of the PV source regarding either its configuration (e.g., number of PV
modules connected in series) or its operational parameters (e.g., temperature coefficients, open-
circuit voltage, etc.), are not suitable for incorporation into commercial PV power management
products. In such cases, the specifications of the target PV source are not known during the design
and manufacturing stages of the power converter and associated control unit but will be defined
by the PV system designer considering the specific target application requirements. Furthermore,
the accuracy of the MPPT methods, which operate by using the values of electrical parameters of
the PV source, is affected by (1) the uncertainty of the estimated electrical parameters values for
the specific PV modules employed in each PV installation (e.g., due to measurement errors during
an experimental characterization process, deviation of the actual operating characteristics from the
corresponding datasheet information, etc.); (2) the electrical parameter deviation among the indi-
vidual PV modules supplied by a manufacturer, due to nonidealities of the manufacturing process;
and (3) the drift of the PV module electrical characteristics during the operational lifetime period of
a PV system (e.g., 25 years).
Each MPPT method also exhibits a different speed in deriving the MPP of the PV source.
However, the intensity of the quantitative impact of this feature on the energy production perfor-
mance of a PV system depends on the magnitude and duration of the short-term variability of solar
irradiation and ambient temperature at each particular installation site under consideration. Thus,
in order to select an MPPT method for incorporation in a PV energy management system, its per-
formance should be evaluated in terms of the total energy produced by the PV source under both
static and dynamic operating conditions, considering the time-varying profile of the meteorological
conditions that prevail during the year at the installation site of interest. Testing procedures, which
are suitable for evaluating and comparing the performance of MPPT algorithms, are presented in
[96, 97]. As analyzed in [98], the reliability of the software and hardware components of the MPPT
control unit also affects the energy production of the PV system; thus, it must also be considered
during the performance evaluation process of an MPPT method.

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