1
Modeling and Design of MPPT Controller for a
PV Module using PSCAD/EMTDC
Rajesh Gupta, Member, IEEE, Gaurang Gupta, Dharmendra Kastwar, Amir Hussain and Hars Ranjan
Abstract- This paper presents a modeling of photovoltaic
(PV) module in PSCAD/EMTDC and design of maximum power
point tracking (MPPT) using boost converter. The model can be
used for simulation studies of grid interface applications using
voltage source converter in the PSCAD. The validity of the PV
model developed has been verified using the set of data
collected experimentally. In order to extract maximum power
from the PV module the boost converter can be controlled
through the Hill Top algorithm. All the simulation study has
been done in the PSCAD/EMTDC simulation software.
Index Terms-- Boost Converter, Hill Top algorithm,
maximum power point tracking (MPPT), photovoltaic (PV)
module, PSCAD/EMTDC.
I. INTRODUCTION
P
OWER generation from environment friendly resources
is one of the major concerns today. Conversion of solar
energy through photovoltaic (PV) system has now reached to
the user end, where he can now contribute to the overall
protection of the environment. Recent growth in the power
semiconductor technology has made possible the clean and
efficient conversion of solar energy into electrical energy
through a PV cell. A PV module generally is a source of low
power DC that cannot be directly put the grid applications. A
power converter is required that converts the raw electrical
power generated by solar PV module into the usable
electrical power. The output power of the solar PV module is
variable for a fixed input condition of cell temperature and
solar insolation level. In addition the output power extracted
from the solar PV module is a function of electrical variable
such as current and voltage. There is a set of these variables
at a particular temperature, insolation level and load at which
the power drawn from the solar PV module is maximum.
Therefore a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) is
required which can extract the maximum power out of the
PV module, continuously. A power electronics converter is
used that not only converters the raw electrical power into
usable electrical power but can also extract maximum power.
A DC-DC converter can track the maximum power from the
PV module continuously.
With the increased penetration of solar PV system into the
distributed generation, this renewable source of energy is
taking the significant share of the overall power generation.
Study of the dynamic model of PV module and its
applicability is one of the important aspect of the PV system.

Authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, M. N.
National Institute of Technology, Allahabad-211004, India (e-mail:
rajeshgupta310@rediffmail.com, gauranggpt@yahoo.co.in, lucky16kastwar
@gmail.com, exploreamir@gmail.com, harsonly4u@gmail.com).
Generation of power from PV module and its supply to the
load or interface to the grid through various converter stages
require accurate modeling of the various characteristics of
the PV system.
The PSCAD/EMTDC is a simulation tool for the Power
System Computer Aided Design and Electromagnetic
transients for DC. This simulation package has become very
useful for various power system simulations and design
studies [1]. Integration of distributed power generation
resources such as solar PV module require a simulation tool
that can accurately model both the fast power system
dynamics and slow power generation dynamics of solar PV
module. There has been a recent proposal for modeling of
wind energy conversion system using PSCAD/EMTDC
simulation tool [2]. However PSCAD simulation package
lacks the valid simulation model. Extensive study of grid
interface of solar PV system requires accurate PV model in
PSCAD/EMTDC.
In this paper first a simulation model is developed for the
PV module in the PSCAD/EMTDC software that accurately
models the PV characteristics including the effect of
temperature and insolation level. Further an MPPT controller
is designed for the boost DC-DC converter using Hill Top
algorithm for the PV model developed in the
PSCAD/EMTDC. The simulation results are obtained that
verifies the proposed MPPT algorithm.
II. OVERVIEW OF A PHOTOVOLTAIC
(PV) MODULE
A solar cell is the simplest component of a PV module
that generates current carriers when sunlight falls on it. The
current generated by these cells is very small. A solar module
is a combination of number of solar cells that are connected
in series and/or parallel to generate usable current and
voltage.
A practical solar cell is current source, with an anti
parallel semiconductor diode as shown in Fig. 1, whose p-n
junction is exposed to light [3]. A solar cell also offers a
series resistance Rs due to contact resistance of the metal
base with the p-type semiconductor, the resistance of p and n
bodies, the contact resistance of the n layer with the top
metal grid, and the resistance of the grid [4]. Some generated
current also goes as leakage current due to the fabrication of
the PV cell, which gives rise to a shunt resistance Rsh. The
resistances Rs and Rsh are shown in Fig. 1. The value of Rsh is
generally high whereas that of Rs is low. An ideal solar cell
doesn’t offers any series and shunt resistance.
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and is also influenced by the temperature according to

Fig. 1 A solar cell model.
The basic equation that governs the relationship between
following equation.
G
I PV = [ I sc + K i ( T − Tn ) ]
Gn
(4)
where, Ki is the short circuit current/temperature coefficient,
G is the solar insolation in W/m 2 and Gn is the nominal solar
insolation in W/m 2.
The dependence of the VI characteristic on the cell
temperature and radiation or insolation is shown in Fig. 3(a)
and Fig. 3(b), respectively. As the cell temperature of module
increases the open circuit voltage decreases keeping the short

Ip Id
the solar cell current I and voltage V of a single ideal solar circuit current almost constant whereas if insolation level

v
cell is given by the following equation. increases the short circuit current increases keeping open
circuit voltage almost constant.
  q( V + I R s )   V + I R s
I = I PV − I o exp  − 1 −
  αKT   R sh
(1)
where, IPV is the current generated by the incident light, Id is
the diode current, Io is the reverse saturation or leakage
2 (a) 2 (b) 2 (c)

Ir
current of the diode, Ir is the current through the shunt
resistance, q is the electron charge (1.6×10 -19 C), K is the Fig. 2 Kirchhoff’s current law I = IPV – ID in PV module (ignoring the RS and
Boltzmann constant (1.38×10 -23 J/K), T is the temperature in Rsh), (a) IPV , (b) Id , and (c) I.
Kelvin of the p-n junction and α is the ideality factor which
varies between 1.0 and 1.5. Equation (1) represents a basic
Kirchhoff’s current law equation. This is shown graphically
in Fig. 2, where Fig. 2(a) shows IPV, 2(b) shows Id, and 2(c)
shows I, that is the current fed to the load assuming that R S is
negligible and Rsh is infinite.
The VI characteristic of the PV module shown in Fig. 2(c)
depends upon the internal parameters of the module, i.e., R s
and Rsh, and on the external influences such as insolation
level and temperature of the cell.
The diode saturation current Io and its dependence on the
temperature may be expressed by the equation as shown
below [5].
3
T   qE g  1 1 
I o = I o,n  n  exp   − 
 T   αK  Tn T 
(2)
Fig. 3 (a) Variation of VI characteristic by varying the cell temperature.
where, Eg is the band gap energy of the semiconductor, Tn is
the nominal temperature (298 Kelvin) and Io,n is the nominal
saturation current given by the following equation. The
subscript n denotes the nominal conditions here.
I sc
I o, n =
V 
exp oc  −1

 αVt 
(3)
where, Voc is the open circuit voltage of the PV module and
Isc is the short circuit current of the module and Vt is the
thermal voltage defined as, Vt = Ns KT/q. The symbol Ns is
the number of series cells in an array. The light generated
current of the module depends linearly on the solar radiation
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module was used and its VI characterstic were plotted by

varying load as shown in Fig. 7, under the assumption that
the temperature of the cell and insolation level were almost
constant having values, insolation level = 800 W/m 2 and cell
temperature = 30 degree, with variable load resistance. A
large load corresponds to the short circuit current Isc = 4 A
and no load voltage corresponds to the open-circuit voltage
Voc = 19 V (approx.). The experimental results are also
compared with the simulation results in Fig. 7 that verifies
that the model developed in PSCAD is in close
approximation to the actual one. Results at other operating
conditions showed the similar approximation.
The result in the Fig. 6 and 7 implies that the PV model
developed in PSCAD is in close approximation to the actual
charateristics and can be used for the design of a maximum
power point tracking (MPPT) for the given operating
conditions and load.
Fig. 3 (b) Variation of VI characteristic by varying the solar insolation.

III. MODELING OF PV MODULE

USING PSCAD

In this section PV module is modeled using

PSCAD/EMTDC. The PV characteristics are modeled using
FOTRAN programming to create the component in PSCAD.
The proposed algorithm for modeling of PV module is
described using a flow chart as shown in Fig. 4 and briefly
explained below.
The schematic of the PV module component created in
PSCAD is shown in Fig. 5. The component is embedded with
the FORTRAN code implementing the algorithm of Fig. 4.
In order to obtain the VI characteristic of the PV module,
the load is varied in steps. For a particular load the steady
state values of the current variable ‘I’ and intermediate
voltage variable ‘TEST’ are recorded. The simulation is
repeated by varying the load, temperature and the insolation
level. The sample simulation results are shown in Fig. 6. The
parameters chosen for modeling corresponds to the TATA
BP solar module as listed in Table I. The voltage V is
considered varying from 0 to open circuit voltage Voc
corresponding to the variation in current from short circuit
current Isc to 0. Fig. 6 (a) shows the VI characteristics with
the variation in cell temperature for a fixed insolation level
of 600 W/m 2. It can be seen from the characteristics that the
open-circuit voltage decreases with the increase in cell
temperature, while the short circuit current Isc remaining Fig. 4 Flowchart for the PV module simulation algorithm.
constant. Similarly, Fig. 6 (b) shows the VI characteristics
with the variation in solar insolation level at a constant cell
temperature of 35 degrees. It can be seen that the short
circuit current increases with the increase in insolation level,
while with vary little change in the open-circuit voltage.
The result clearly matches with the ideal results of Fig. 3.
The peak value of the product of V and I represent the
maximum power point (MPP) Pmax of the solar module. The
current and voltage of PV module at the MPP are denoted by
Imp and Vmp, respectively. The solar module should always be
operated in this region so as to extract the maximum power
for a given input conditions. For this purpose various
algorithms have been proposed in the literature that can be
developed in order to extract maximum power from the Fig. 5 Model of PV module built in PSCAD based on the algorithm shown in
module. Fig. 4.
In order to verify the model of PV module developed,
experiment was conducted in which the TATA BP solar Table I
 4

Parameters of TATA BP SOLAR module for a particular operating condition. It is desired that
Parameter Value the PV module operates close to this point, i.e., output of the
Imp 4.608 A PV module approaches near to MPP. The process of
Vmp 17.655 V operating PV module at this condition is called as maximum
Pmax 81.360 W power point tracking (MPPT). Maximization of PV power
Isc 5.078 A
Voc 21.827 V improves the utilization of the solar PV module. The load
KV -0.1230V/K and the PV module are interfaced with each other through a
Ki 1.141 mA /K dc/dc converter (step up/step down) that serves the purpose
Ns 36 of transferring maximum power from the solar PV module to
Rs 0.502 ohm the load as shown in Fig. 8. By continuously changing the
Rsh 644.13 ohm
duty cycle, the maximum power is transferred to the load.

Fig. 8 Block Diagram of a typical MPPT system.

The peak power is reached with the help of a dc/dc

converter by adjusting its duty cycle such that the load
impedance corresponding to the peak power is obtained as
shown in Fig. 9. Various algorithms have been developed in
past to implement the MPPT controller [6], namely Hill Top
algorithm, Perturb and observation, etc. In this paper, Hill
Fig. 6 (a) VI characteristic of the developed model of the PV module at
different cell temperature and constant insolation of 600W/m2.
Top algorithm has been implemented in PSCAD/EMTDC
environment in order to extract the maximum power from the
PV module [7].

V. HILL TOP ALGORITHM

As the name of the hill climbing method states, this

P V
process works by increasing or decreasing the duty cycle of
the buck or boost DC to DC converter and observing its
impact on the module output power. This current value of
power is compared to its previous value and according to the

Fig. 6 (b) VI characteristic of the developed model of the PV module at
different solar insolation and constant cell temperature of 35 degree.
M o d u l
result of the comparison, the sign of the “slope”, which is a
program variable (slope ∈{1,-1}), is either complemented or
remains unchanged [8]. As a result, the PWM output duty
cycle or duty ratio is changed accordingly. Fig. 7 shows the
flowchart for the hill climbing method as it is implemented
in controlling the switch position of the switching device
used in the DC-DC converter.

Fig. 9 Circuit for the MPPT using DC-DC boost converter.

Fig. 7 Comparison of simulation and experimental PV module characteristic.
IV. MAXIMUM POWER POINT
TRACKING
The output power of the solar PV module changes with
change in direction of the sun, change in solar insolation
level and change in temperature. Also there is a single
maximum power point in the PV characteristics of the PV
In order to implement hill-top algorithm, a controller is
designed in the PSCAD as shown in Fig. 9. In this figure, the
source for the converter is the PV model as built earlier in the
PSCAD. The voltage and current output of the PV module is
continuously fed to the MPPT controller that drives a DC-DC
boost converter. The variable L and C out represents the boost
converter inductance and capacitance respectively. The
capacitor C holds the input DC voltage for the boost
converter. In the MPPT controller the algorithm shown in

Fig. 10 is embedded. The output of the controller is a duty
cycle. This duty cycle varies between 0 and 1. It is then
compared with a sawtooth signal whose amplitude is 1.0 V.
The comparator output is high if duty cycle is greater than
the carrier signal and low when duty cycle is less than the
carrier signal. The controller continuously adjusts the duty
cycle so that the maximum power is extracted from the PV
module. Fig. 11 shows the schematic of the PV model, boost
converter and MPPT controller developed in PSCAD 4.2.
Fig.10 Hill Top Algorithm.
Fig. 11 Schematic of the PV model, boost converter and MPPT controller
developed in PSCAD.
VI. SIMULATION RESULTS
The proposed schematic was simulated in the
PSCAD/EMTDC environment at the cell temperature of 30
degree and insolation level of 800 W/m 2. Duty cycle was
initialized to 0.7 and step size was taken as ½ 8. Fig. 12 shows
the variation of the duty cycle with time. It changes itself in
order to extract the maximum power from the PV module.
5
When the maximum power point is achieved it settles down
finally at a steady state. Fig. 13 shows the switching signal
for the power switch (sa1 shown in Fig. 11) used in the DC-
DC boost converter. Fig. 14 and 15 shows the output voltage
across the PV module and the load. The figure clearly shows
that the output of the module and the load settles up after
sometime when the maximum power point is tracked. In
order to verify the results, the schematic was simulated at
different temperatures and insolation levels and the results
are compared in Fig. 16 and Fig. 17. The load resistance is
directly proportional to the voltage. Therefore Fig. 16 and 17,
indirectly holds the relationship between the power and
voltage. The schematic in Fig. 11 was run for different
S
insolation with the open loop and close loop (MPPT) control
of the converter. The duty cycle in both the cases was
initialized to 0.7. In open loop case, the duty cycle was fixed,
t a r
whereas in the close loop case the duty cycle was set to vary
by the MPPT controller. The results are compared in Fig. 18.
The power with the open loop control is less as compared to
the close loop control, hence the MPPT controller operation
and PV model developed in PSCAD/EMTDC is justified.
S l o p e
Fig. 12 Duty cycle variation.
S e n s e
V o l t a g e
Fig. 13 Switching signal for boost converter switch.
C a l c u l
P ( k ) =
 6

Fig. 18 Comparison of power extraction for open loop and closed loop control
of the converter at different insolation.

Fig. 14 Voltage across the model of PV module. The model of PV module and MPPT controller developed
in PSCAD/EMTDC software can easily be implemented in
the grid interface simulation studies. The simple example
include chargeable battery supported DVR which
compensates for sags and swells in the event of their
occurrences. Other example includes supply of power from
the battery supported inverter to the grid connected loads in
the event of main grid failure. In both the above cases the
battery is continuously charged from the PV module. The
model of PV module proposed in this paper can easily be
combined for the applications involving multiple PV
modules to produce PV array, multi-string PV system and
distributed PV system support to the grid.

VII. CONCLUSIONS
Fig. 15 Voltage across the load.
This paper presented the modeling of a PV module in
PSCAD/EMTDC and design of the MPPT controller. The
validity of the model of the PV module developed in the
PSCAD/EMTDC has been verified by comparing its VI
characteristics with the actual data set collected
experimentally. The comparison showed the close
approximation of the model characteristics with the actual
characteristics. Furthermore, the VI characteristics of the PV
model has been studied with the variations in insolation level
and temperature and found to be in close approximations to
the ideal characteristics. The application of the PV model has
been shown through the MPPT using DC-DC boost converter
based on the Hill Top algorithm in the PSCAD/EMTDC
environment. It is shown that the MPPT algorithm extracts
Fig. 16 Output PV power verses load resistance at 30º temperature for the maximum power from the PV model under all conditions
different insolation level in W/m2. of insolation level and temperature. Also the results are
shown for the operation of the converter under open loop and
close loop control at different insolation and it has been
observed that more power is extracted when the MPPT
controller is used. This verifies the operation of MPPT
controller for the PV model. The model for the PV module
developed in the PSCAD/EMTDC can be used for the
simulation studies of the PV supported grid interface
applications. This includes multi-string PV system,
distributed PV system etc.

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