Power electronics system that harvests excess power from unbalanced photovoltaic modules to boost overall efficiency

Stanford researchers have developed an efficient and low-cost device which increases the energy harvest of a system by recovering these losses through module-level maximum power point tracking (MPPT). Through a new circuit architecture which diverts mismatched power rather than the entire panel power, this device efficiently boosts power output from solar modules while utilizing low-cost, low-power components. This design has the potential to allow developers of large-scale solar systems to utilize land more effectively and decrease maintenance costs.

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Stage of Research:
First iteration prototype has been built to demonstrate the feasibility of this MPPT circuit and software algorithm

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