PV energy is one of the most important renewable energies because it is clean, requires very little
maintenance. However, the relatively high costs and low conversion efficiency are still the major
challenge to a larger and faster spread of PV systems. Therefore, the maximum power point tracker
(MPPT) is essential in a PV system for maximizing the conversion efficiency of the solar array.
Because of the nonlinear behavior of PV systems, various techniques of MPPT are employed in order
to continuously operate the PV array at their MPP despite the unavoidable changes in solar irradiance
and temperature. This paper presents an assessment of five widely used MPPT techniques. These
techniques are simulated in Matlab/Simulink environment in order to provide a comparison in terms of
sensors required, ease of implementation, efficiency and the dynamic response of the PV system to
variations in temperature and irradiance to determine appropriateness for the different applications of
PV system. This can be used as a reference for future research related to PV power generation.