TY  - EJOU
AU  - Kamel, Hamza 
AU  - Ouissaaden, Fatima Id 
AU  - Essakali, Yassine 
AU  - Elmourabit, Fahd 
AU  - Mesbahi, Oumaima 
AU  - Dlimi, Said 

TI  - Modelling and Simulation of Partial Shading Impacts on Grid-Tied Photovoltaic Chains
T2  - Energy Engineering

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 1546-0118

AB  - The increasing deployment of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems has made solar energy one of the most promising renewable energy sources for achieving a sustainable and low-carbon energy future. However, the performance of PV systems is strongly influenced by environmental conditions, particularly partial shading caused by clouds, nearby buildings, trees, or other obstacles. Partial shading can lead to significant power losses, reduced energy yield, and potential degradation of system performance. Therefore, evaluating the behavior of PV systems under such operating conditions is essential for improving their reliability and efficiency. This paper presents an analysis of the performance of a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system under partial shading conditions using MATLAB/Simulink. The studied system consists of a PV array, a Perturb and Observe (P&amp;O) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller, a DC–DC boost converter, a three-phase inverter, a grid-side filter, and the utility grid. The system is first simulated under uniform irradiance conditions of 1000 W/m<sup>2</sup> and then under a multi-zone partial shading scenario with irradiance levels of 800, 600, and 500 W/m<sup>2</sup>. The simulation results indicate that the PV output power decreases from approximately 3.0 to 1.7 MW, representing a reduction of about 43.3%. Similarly, the power injected into the grid decreases from 2.9 to 1.6 MW, while the overall PV-to-grid efficiency drops from 96.7% to 94.1%. Furthermore, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the grid current remains low, decreasing from 1.49% to 0.45%, which is well below the 5% limit specified by the IEEE 519 standard. These findings confirm that partial shading significantly reduces PV power generation and grid-injected power while maintaining acceptable power quality at the grid interface.
KW  - Partial shading; photovoltaic systems; grid-connected PV; MPPT; PV modeling; power losses

DO  - 10.32604/ee.2026.085033