This paper deals with whale hunting behaviour inspired whale optimization algorithm (WOA) for tracking maximum power from the solar photovoltaic (PV) system. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller has become an essential requirement for tracking the actual power present in solar PV system. In literature, various optimization techniques have been proposed for normal and partial shading conditions (PSC). But the problem in the conventional methods is tracking peak power under shading conditions is not assurance due to the presence of many peaks in a shading conditions. Because the local peaks are presented very close to global peaks. The results of conventional algorithms get failed with local peaks instead of tracking global peak power particularly in shading conditions. In this paper, a new WOA algorithm has been proposed which has the ability to reach the peak power presented in solar PV panel under different climatic conditions. In further, the proposed WOA algorithm has been investigated in MATLAB/Simulink model and comparison has been made with different MPPT algorithms, namely, Perturb and Observe (PO), grey wolf optimization (GWO). The results clearly demonstrated the proposed WOA algorithm giving more than 99.6% efficiency with high tracking speed and minimum payback period under PSC. © 2020 International Journal of Renewable Energy Research.