Barnacles Mating Optimizer Algorithm to Extract the Parameters of the Photovoltaic Cells and Panels

The goal of this research is to accurately extract the parameters of the photovoltaic cells and panels and to reduce the extracting time. To this purpose, the barnacles mating optimizer algorithm is proposed for the first time to extract the parameters. To prove that the algorithm succeeds in terms of accuracy and quickness, it is applied to the following photovoltaic cells: monocrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, RTC France, and the PWP201, Sharp ND-R250A5, and Kyocera KC200GT photovoltaic panels. The mathematical models used are single and double diodes. Datasets for these photovoltaic cells and panels were used, and the results obtained for the parameters were compared with the ones obtained using other published methods and algorithms. Six statistical tests were used to analyze the performance of the barnacles mating optimizer algorithm: the root mean square error mean, absolute percentage error, mean square error, mean absolute error, mean bias error, and mean relative error. The results of the statistical tests show that the barnacles mating optimizer algorithm outperforms several algorithms. The tests about the computational time were made using two computer configurations. Using the barnacles mating optimizer algorithm, the computational time decreases more than 30 times in comparison with one of the best algorithms, hybrid successive discretization algorithm.