Optimization of Unknown Parameters for Photovoltaic System Using Historical Weather Data and Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract

Maximizing Photovoltaic (PV) System’s output power can help in reducing the reliance on non-renewable sources significantly. The proposed method uses Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to identify and optimize the values of unknown parameters azimuth angle and tilt angle of the PV system based on maximum power output calculated by PVWatts model. Historical weather data including irradiance, temperature and wind speed for the geo-location Nagpur in Maharashtra, India is used for this research. The findings showed around 187.86° optimum azimuth angle annually, whereas optimum tilt angle came to be around 5.33° for summer and 43.5° for winter for Nagpur.