Electrical Design and Integration of Solar Energy Systems with Supercapacitors for Enhanced Storage Efficiency

Abstract

Background: Solar photovoltaic systems are popular in generating sustainable energy, although the performance of the system is hampered by intermittency and lack of efficient storage of energy. The classic battery systems cannot handle the rapid changes well and that is why efficiency is compromised and the system becomes unstable.

Purpose: In this study, the researcher seeks to design and test the electrical capabilities of solar energy systems together with supercapacitors to increase the storage efficiency and the general performance of the system.

Procedure: An energy storage system was modeled through a simulation-based approach that utilizes MATLAB/Simulink in order to simulate a hybrid energy storage system of a PV array, supercapacitor and a battery. The use of maximum power point tracking and rule-based system of energy management aims at regulating the power flow under different irradiance and load settings.

Findings: The findings show that the incorporation of supercapacitors enhances the efficiency of systems, voltage stability and the response time to load change is considerably lower. The energy loss was minimized and the hybrid system proved to be better in performance than the conventional battery only systems.

Conclusion: Supercapacitors integration with solar PV systems constitutes an efficient strategy to enhance the efficiency of energy storage, system reliability, and dynamism and hence a promising method in the contemporary renewable energy application.