Review of Multiport Converters for Solar and Energy Storage Integration

This paper presents a comprehensive review of multiport converters for integrating solar energy with energy storage systems. With recent development of a battery as a viable energy storage device, the solar energy is transforming into a more reliable and steady source of power. Research and development of multiport converters is instrumental in enabling this transformation in an efficient manner. The high efficiency of conversion in comparatively smaller footprint makes a multiport converter very attractive in this application. Most of the recently reported multiport converter topologies are discussed here. A breakdown of isolated and nonisolated topologies is presented along with the comparison of converter architectures and features such as operating conditions, device count, efficiency, etc. Each group of multiport converters is subdivided into different smaller groups based on their architecture. Detailed specifications are presented for important topologies. Finally, a performance comparison is carried out featuring the advantages and disadvantages of the various topologies leading to suggestions for the direction of future research.