energies Article New Gen Controlling Variable Using Dragonfly Algorithm in PV Panel Shabana Urooj 1 , Fadwa Alrowais 2 , Ramya Kuppusamy 3 , Yuvaraja Teekaraman 4, * and Hariprasath Manoharan 5   Citation: Urooj, S.; Alrowais, F.; Kuppusamy, R.; Teekaraman, Y.; Manoharan, H. New Gen Controlling Variable Using Dragonfly Algorithm in PV Panel. Energies 2021, 14, 790. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14040790 Received: 25 December 2020 Accepted: 27 January 2021 Published: 3 February 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 84428, Saudi Arabia; smurooj@pnu.edu.sa 2 Department of Computer Sciences, College of Computer and Information Sciences, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 84428, Saudi Arabia; fmalrowais@pnu.edu.sa 3 Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Sairam College of Engineering, Bangalore City, Bengaluru 562106, India; ramyapks26@ieee.org 4 MOBI- Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre, EVERGi, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium 5 Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Audisankara College of Engineering and Technology, Gudur 524101, India; hari13prasath@gmail.com * Correspondence: yuvarajastr@ieee.org Abstract: In the present scenario the depletion of conventional sources causes an energy crisis. The energy crisis causes load demand with respect to electricity. The use of renewable energy sources plays a vital role in reducing the energy crisis and in reduction of CO 2 emission. The use of solar energy is the major source of power in generation as this is the root cause for the development of wind, tides, etc. However, due to climatic condition the availability of PV sources varies from time to time. Hence it is essential to track the maximum source of energy by implementing different types of MPPT algorithms. However, use of MPPT algorithms has the limitation of using the same during partial shadow conditions. The issue of tracking power under partial shadow conditions can be resolved by implementing an intelligent optimization tracking algorithm which involves a computation process. Though many of nature’s inspired algorithms were present to address real world problems, Mirjalili developed the dragonfly algorithm to provide a better optimization solution to the issues faced in real-time applications. The proposed concept focuses on the implementation of the dragonfly optimization algorithm to track the maximum power from solar and involves the concept of machine learning, image processing, and data computation. Keywords: dragonfly optimization algorithm; maximum power tracker; PV panel 1. Introduction In the present situation the upcoming problems in the real-time environment is in- creased compared to the past situation. This led the present researchers to develop more effective solutions by means of optimization technique. The extensive search of these optimization techniques led the researcher to develop sustained solution by understanding the natural characteristics of swarms in nature. Many algorithms were developed by many of the researchers by understanding the characteristics, behaviors, reactions, and properties of swarms in nature. The upcoming research in the real world applications is the use of methodologies inspired by nature. The use of methodologies needs intel- ligence in computational techniques to solve complex problems. The ICT (intelligence in computational techniques) involves ANN (artificial neural network), FLS (fuzzy logic system), and MLA (multi-layer algorithm). The ICT addresses the real-time application issues that involve discrete or continuous time problems or combination of both. The recent trend in computational process is the use of SI (swarm intelligence) and the algo- rithms developed using SI attracted many researchers to develop solutions for complex Energies 2021, 14, 790. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14040790 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies