This study examined the performance improvement of a photovoltaic (PV) array and inverter as well as their design, construction, and post-operation and management, which will become the key elements in future PV systems. In addition, it evaluated the performance characteristics of a 50 kW grid-connection PV system in Korea. According to the result of the evaluation, the PV array showed approximately 10% efficiency. The inverter was indicated to operate at > 90% efficiency regularly at > 400 W/m2 irradiation. The capture losses (Lc), system losses (Ls) and performance ratio were approximately 0.9 h/d, 0.3 h/d, and > 70%, respectively, indicating that the system was operating stably. In addition, while the Ls decreased rapidly due to the efficiency of the inverter, the performance ratio decreased markedly with increasing Lc due to the increase in temperature when the reference yield was > 5.0 h/d.

This paper presents an adaptive maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. The aim is to dynamically adjust the step length for updating duty ratio (or operating voltage) so as to make full utilization of the output power of photovoltaic (PV) systems, even under the rapidly changing atmospheric conditions. To this end, the average slope in terms of voltage and power is exploited for reducing the harmful effect of noise and error (incurred in measurement or quantization) on the slope. Also, a statistical decision-making scheme is employed for reliably deciding the time instant at which atmospheric conditions actually change. Empirical study has adduced grounds for its dominance over existing references.