A novel modified ant colony optimization based maximum power point tracking controller for photovoltaic systems

Abstract Due to their versatility and local optima avoidance ability, meta-heuristic optimization techniques have been applied to various nonlinear engineering problems over the last decay. This paper presents a modified Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) Algorithm based controller for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) of a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) system. ACO algorithm is modified to track the maximum power point with rapid pace and accuracy. MATLAB®/SIMULINK® environment is used for modelling of modified ACO based MPPT controller. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of modified ACO based MPPT controller for MPPT tracking in standalone PV system performance.