High-performance global peak tracking technique for PV arrays subject to rapidly changing PSC

In the P--V characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) arrays that are subject to rapidly changing partial shading conditions (PSC), there usually exist several peaks. High-performance global peak tracking plays a quite significant role in improving the energy efficiency and energy extraction of PV arrays. Many global peak tracking techniques (GPTTs) have been proposed to find the global maximum power point (GMPP) for photovoltaic arrays. Although existing techniques have their advantages in tracking the GP, they cannot work well under rapidly changing partial shading conditions. Moreover, when valleys around a local peak (LP) are relatively deep and narrow, these techniques cannot avoid being trapped in the LP. In order to deal with the rapidly changing partial shading conditions, as well as improving the accuracy of GPT, a novel and extremely fast Quantum annealing (QA)-based global peak tracking technique (QAGPTT), is designed for PV arrays in this paper. Compared to the conventional techniques, quantum annealing utilizes quantum effects to tunnel through potential barriers instead of relying on the inefficient and time-consuming thermal fluctuations or perturbation to climb potential barriers surrounding a local minimum. Theoretical analyses and extensive experiments show that our technique is more suitable for global peak tracking under rapidly changing partial shading conditions, especially when valleys around a local peak are relatively deep and narrow.