Improved Power Tracking and Performance Evaluation Using a Tri‐Meta Hybrid DOA–CSA–WOA‐Based MPPT Controller for Standalone PV System

ABSTRACT

The widespread adoption of photovoltaic (PV) systems for sustainable power generation underscores the necessity for high‐performance Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control strategies. This research proposes a structured Tri‐Meta Hybrid (TMH) MPPT controller for standalone PV systems by coordinating three established metaheuristic algorithms: Dandelion Optimizer Algorithm (DOA), Crow Search Algorithm (CSA), and Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA). The contribution of the proposed controller lies in its sequential exploration–refinement–exploitation structure, in which DOA supports global duty‐cycle exploration, CSA refines promising candidate regions via memory‐guided search, and WOA performs local exploitation near the maximum power point. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the individual, Dual Hybrid (DH), and TMH controllers in improving the performance of standalone PV systems under constant, varying, and partial shading conditions. The proposed controllers were evaluated and compared through a multiparametric performance analysis in terms of power tracking, efficiency, convergence speed, and computational complexity using MATLAB/Simulink. Under constant irradiance and temperature of 1000 W/m ² and 25°C, the DOA–CSA–WOA controller achieved the highest output power of 10,141 W, corresponding to a tracking efficiency of 99.19%, surpassing individual and DH algorithms with peak efficiencies of 97.11% and 98.49%. While considering DOA's average output power (6280.44 W) as a reference for varying irradiance and temperature conditions, CSA yielded 6260.01 W (–0.277%) and WOA 6238.25 W (–0.55%). DH's demonstrated improved gains, that is, CSA–DOA produced 6450.38 W (+2.31%), WOA–CSA 6418.25 W (+1.89%), and WOA–DOA 6389.75 W (+1.55%). The TMH, DOA–CSA–WOA achieved the highest output power of 6549.25 W (+3.73%). Whereas taking CSA's average output power of 7512.5 W as the reference under partial shading conditions, the controllers achieved: DOA –0.7%, WOA –0.42%, CSA–DOA +2.07%, WOA–CSA +3.28%, WOA–DOA +6.59%, and DOA–CSA–WOA +8.86%. The results confirm that hybridization improves MPPT performance by combining the complementary strengths of the selected algorithms. Among all tested controllers, the proposed DOA–CSA–WOA TMH controller achieved the best overall performance under constant, varying, and partial shading conditions.