LAUSR

Abstract Solar PV arrays are often subjected to partial shading that imposes substantial reduction in maximum power extraction from PV based power plants. For which, the principal reason is the exhibition of uneven row current levels that eventually creates multiple power peaks in the output characteristics of a PV array. In general, to mitigate the abovementioned issue, array reconfiguration schemes adopting either physical relocation or electrical rewiring are effectively utilized in the technical literature. Typically, most of the existing physical relocation methods have been conceptualized based on mathematical puzzles owing to its high shade dispersion capability. However, most of these methods are not compatible to both symmetrical and non-symmetrical PV arrays. In this work, a new physical relocation alternative deploying Skyscraper puzzle suitable for all PV arrays is designed, implemented and tested. For validation and performance evaluation of the proposed method, both simulation and experimental studies are carried out. The results demonstrate that, in comparison with the existing methods in literature, Skyscraper method provides better shade dispersion over the entire PV array and subsequently, reduces the mismatch loss to improve power reduction. As performance indices, the power values obtained from the I-V and P-V characteristics of the proposed Skyscraper method is compared with TCT (Total Cross Tie) connection, DS (Dominance Square) and Sudoku methods. 9 × 9 and 5 × 5 PV arrays are utilized for simulations and real-time experiments respectively. In summary, the Skyscraper method shows uniform characteristics and enhanced power output compared to the existing techniques in literature.