International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 08 Issue: 09 | Sep 2021 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2021, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.529 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1129 Performance Comparison of 3kW Residential Grid-Connected Photovoltaic System between Microinverter and String Inverter Topology using System Advisor Model Shubham Tiwari 1 , Dr Ruchi Pandey 2 , Mr. Anand Goswami 3 1 Scholar, M. Tech Energy Technology, GGITS Jabalpur, India 2 Professor and H.O.D Electrical and Electronics Engineering, GGITS Jabalpur, India 3 Asst. Professor Electrical and Electronics Engineering, GGITS Jabalpur, India ---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract - Grid connected rooftop PV systems are the most common form of solar energy utilization that helps home owners to reduce carbon footprint and save money in utility bills. This project focuses on the design and modelling of a 3KW residential PV system connected to a 240V single phase grid. The purpose of this study was to conduct an independent experiment on two photovoltaic systems, one with a central inverter and the other with microinverters, to determine their comparative performance characteristics. Both systems have fixed tilt angle and fixed azimuth angle. In order to analyze the performance of the systems, the Energy Yield, Performance Ratio, Capacity factor and Annual Energy have been used. This allowed to obtain a correct comparison even with different Irradiance values and different Peak Powers. In the central inverters, several strings of PV modules are combined in order to achieve the power required from the inverter to operate. Strings are connected in parallel and then these strings are led to the inverter after running several meters of DC cables. These cables are often very thick and as a result are very expensive while at the same time, they add losses to the overall system. On the other hand, AC cables are much less expensive and they have fewer losses. A residential system was designed in SAM using specific weather data. The simulation results supported the fact that micro inverters outperform the traditional string inverters in both shaded and non-shaded conditions. A significant advantage of Micro Inverters is the avoidance of shading losses and mismatch among different PV technologies which consists a great challenge on PV installations. This thesis presents experimental data that supports the conclusion that microinverters can outperform central inverters in both unshaded and shaded conditions The Micro Inverter system produced an annual energy of 4916 kWh in the first year with no shading and 4332 kWh in the first year with shading losses. The String Inverter system produced an annual energy of 4763 kWh in the first year with no shading and 4286 kWh in the first year with shading losses. Key Words: Inverters, Photovoltaic cells, Photovoltaic systems, Solar energy, Solar panels. 1.INTRODUCTION The use of module level power electronic devices (MLPE) has been proposed to mitigate electrical and thermal mismatch losses in the field by tracking the maximum power point of individual modules. In general, MLPE devices consist of two main categories: micro inverters and power optimizers. In this paper micro inverters and boost power optimizers are considered.[1]. The key challenges of partial shading PV models are therefore to generate accurate yield predictions under heterogeneous irradiance conditions with reduced simulation time. In this paper a model is presented that considers cell shading fractions determined by a 3D model and applies an irradiance model to determine the effective irradiance on a partially shaded cell. Moreover, the model takes into consideration the system architecture and associated power electronics efficiency losses.[2] Partial shading is considered as the major challenge faced by the roof-top PV system that aims to reduce the power output of the system. All the modules in a string connected in series carries the same current. Partially shaded modules which generate less photon current forcefully carry the current equivalent to the non-shaded modules. Shaded modules, once reverse biased behave as loads and deplete the power from non-shaded modules. The absence of suitable protection for the system can lead to the hot- spot formation and in the worst scenario will cause permanent damage [3]. Integration of PV Systems to existing buildings poses another problem of inevitable partial shading due to neighbouring structures for different seasons. In standard PV systems this shading reduces the total power production to a larger extent than anticipated, leading to higher capital costs as more modules are required. This makes the PV systems less appealing to customers. Hence, the study of partial shading is very important. Also, to make PV systems reliable for all conditions their characteristics under different partial shading conditions needs to be understood. In the last few years, effects of partial shading on PV system have been thoroughly studied [4], [5]. Since field