An innovative metaheuristic algorithm for photovoltaic tilt angle optimization.

Area of Science:

• Renewable Energy Engineering
• Computational Intelligence
• Optimization Algorithms

Background:

• Optimizing photovoltaic (PV) tilt angles is crucial for maximizing solar radiation capture, but traditional methods face challenges like local optima and slow convergence.
• Existing optimization techniques often struggle with limited population diversity and convergence speed, hindering efficient PV system performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce HMWOAIGWO, a novel hybrid metaheuristic algorithm integrating the improved grey wolf optimizer (IGWO) and whale optimization algorithm (WOA).
• To enhance the optimization of photovoltaic tilt angles on daily, monthly, and annual scales, overcoming limitations of individual algorithms.
• To evaluate the performance of HMWOAIGWO against state-of-the-art algorithms on benchmark functions and real-world PV optimization problems.

Main Methods:

• Developed HMWOAIGWO by combining IGWO and WOA to improve population diversity and convergence.
• Tested HMWOAIGWO on 23 benchmark suites and CEC 2019 test functions against ten other algorithms.
• Validated performance on five real-world optimization problems and applied it to PV systems for tilt angle optimization.

Main Results:

• HMWOAIGWO achieved superior accuracy on 19 out of 33 benchmark functions and top-two convergence speed in 78% of test cases.
• The algorithm demonstrated the lowest standard deviation in 100% of real-world problems and outperformed competitors in mean performance on 60%.
• Application to PV systems resulted in significant solar radiation capture improvements: 4% (daily), 1.76% (monthly), and 0.96% (annual).

Conclusions:

• HMWOAIGWO effectively balances exploration and exploitation, offering a robust solution for complex optimization tasks.
• Statistical validation confirms the significant improvement in solution optimality provided by HMWOAIGWO.
• The algorithm presents a promising tool for enhancing the efficiency and performance of photovoltaic systems through optimized tilt angles.