PERFORMANCE OF PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES WITH SELF-CLEANING COATING SURFACE AFTER TWO YEARS OF OUTDOOR EXPOSURE IN SOUTHERN SPAIN

摘要

The deposition of a film with self-cleaning and anti-reflective properties on the surface of the modulesreduces the soiling losses and facilitates cleaning when it rains. In this paper we present a comparative study of theperformance of photovoltaic modules with and without coating in order to determine the soiling losses as well as theinfluence of tilt angle on these losses. Two different procedures for quantifying soiling losses have been used: Thefirst one measuring transmittance losses of the module and the second one analyzing the values of the dailyperformance ratio. Measurements were carried out for two periods: the photovoltaic modules were placed with asouth orientation and 21° (first period of measurements) and 40 ° (second period of measurements) tilt angles. Theobtained results show that coated modules exhibit lower soiling losses that those without coating and therefore bettervalues of daily yield. Then, soiling losses depend on the module tilt angle and are lower when module inclination ishigher.