Abstract
Partial shading condition (PSC) has a bad effect not only on the shaded PV modules/arrays itself but also on the output power generated from the partially shaded photovoltaic (PSPV) system. It reduces the output power generated from the photovoltaic (PV) system and contributes in hot spot problem that may lead to thermal breakdown of shaded PV modules. Under PSC, multiple peaks, one global peak (GP) and many other local peaks (LPs) are generated in the P-V curve. This chapter concentrates on alleviating the partial shading effects and extracting the global maximum power available from the PSPV system. This has been achieved using the suitable and the best PV system design topologies and the efficient maximum power point tracker (MPPT) techniques in tracking the GP under PSC. Therefore, it is concluded that the partial shading (PS) mitigation techniques can be classified into PV system design topologies and MPPT techniques to not only alleviate the PS effects of the PSPV system but also to extract the GP. The PV system design topologies consist of the bypass and blocking diodes, PV system architectures, PV array configuration and PV array reconfiguration, whereas the MPPT techniques concentrate the most efficient heuristic MPPT in tracking the GP under PSC.