A Coronavirus Optimization (CVO) algorithm to harvest maximum power from PV systems under partial and complex partial shading conditions

Power generation from solar photovoltaic (PV) systems is employed due to its recyclable nature, limitless source of energy, low maintenance, ease of installment, and eco-friendly potential. There is a major challenge in the PV system to harvest the maximal power in varying weather scenarios which decreases the overall efficiency and causes significant power loss. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods are exploited to crop the maximum power from PV strings. Conventional algorithms do not find the Global Maxima (GM) and are trapped on any Local Minima (LM). However, bio-inspired methods find the GM but take more time to search the GM. This paper presents a Corona-Virus Optimization (CVO) algorithm to harvest maximum power against seven well-known conventional and bio-inspired MPPT algorithms. The proposed technique is estimated for Uniform Irradiance (UI), Partial Shading (PS), and Complex Partial Shading (CPS) conditions. Furthermore, the comparative analysis between seven already implemented and proposed techniques shows that the CVO algorithm lessens the unwanted oscillation and quicker searching the GM. Moreover, their numerical analysis is also conducted to evaluate the stability, robustness, performance, and sensitivity of the CVO algorithm. The proposed technique gives the highest efficiencies of 99.99%, 99.98%, 99.97%, and 99.98% in all cases of UI, PS-1, PS-2, and CPS respectively when comparing with P&O, InC, DFO, CS, FFO, PSO, and ACO techniques. Real-time data from the Beijing database is also used to verify the performance of the proposed algorithm.