A Self-Healing Reconfiguration Strategy to Reduce Mismatch Losses in Photovoltaic Arrays Exposed to Non-Uniform Environmental Irradiance

Photovoltaic (PV) arrays frequently operate under non-uniform environmental conditions, including partial shading, dust accumulation, and temperature differences across the array. These factors introduce an electrical mismatch among PV modules, considerably reducing overall power output. This study proposes a self-healing reconfiguration strategy that mitigates mismatch losses by dynamically redistributing PV modules across array strings based on irradiance levels. The main goal is to balance the current generation among strings and demonstrate performance improvements within scenarios characterised by highly uneven irradiance patterns under non-uniform operating conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated through simulations conducted using MATLAB R2025b (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA) under several environmental scenarios. Deterministic shading patterns—including row shading, column shading, diagonal shading, and irregular dust distributions—are first analysed to investigate the behaviour of the PV array under regulated conditions. In addition, a statistical analysis of 100 randomly generated irradiance scenarios is carried out to assess the method’s robustness. Finally, realistic desert-dust patterns representative of environmental conditions in Saudi Arabia are used to evaluate the practical usefulness of the proposed approach. Simulation findings show that the self-healing reconfiguration strategy reduces mismatch effects and improves current balance within the PV array, enabling operation closer to the optimal power point under non-uniform irradiance conditions. These results indicate that the proposed method boosts current balance among PV strings and increases power extraction under strongly non-uniform irradiance scenarios.