Boosting energy harvesting from renewable energy sources

Keywords: GMPPT algorithms, Partial shading, WECS, Inverter, Digital Control;

The work presented in this thesis deals with the implementation of low-cost energy harvesting systems from PV modules and wind turbines. The PV systems can improve their energy harvesting capability by improving the GMPPT algorithms and the control structure. By making analogies between the PV systems and WECS, similar solutions can be adopted for the wind energy conversion system. The major task of this research is to make modular energy harvesting converters. In this way, a hybrid microgrid can be extended easily just by adding modules over time as the consumer loads increases.

PhD thesis main contributions:

• Review and classification of existing solutions for harvesting energy from PV systems.
• Implementation of GMPPT algorithms for PV systems affected by partial shading.
• Propose a modular microgrid.
• Propose a control topology that is suitable for implementing a modular microgrid.
• Implement an analog solution for the proposed control topology.
• Implement macromodels to simplify the simulation of microgrids.