Impact of dust on the photovoltaic (PV) modules characteristics after an exposition year in Sahelian environment: The case of Senegal

摘要

The objective of this paper is to find the effect of dust on the performance of photovoltaic modules.To this end, the International Center for Research and Training in solar energy at Dakar University and the Lasquo-ISTIA Laboratory of Angers University have put in place a research project in order to investigate the impact of Sahelian climatic conditions on the photovoltaic (PV)modules characteristics. Accordingly, monocrystalline silicon (mc-Si) PV module and a silicon polycrystalline (pc-Si) PV module are installed at Dakar University and monitored during one operation year without cleaning. We evaluate the variationdepending on thedustof electrical characteristics such as I-V and P-V curves,open-circuit voltage(Voc), short-circuit current (Isc), maximum ouput current (Imax), maximum output voltage (Vmax), maximum power output (Pmax)and fill factor (FF).Thiswork hashighlighted theimpact of dustontheCurrent-Voltage (I-V) and Power-Voltage (P-V)characteristicsofPVmodules (mc-Siandpc-Si)with the advent ofthe mismatch effect.Pmax, Imax,IscandFF arethe most affected performance characteristics bythedust deposits onthe PV modules surface.Themaximum power output (Pmax) loss can be from18to 78% respectively forthe polycrystalline module (pc-Si)andmonocrystalline module (mc-si).Imaxlosscan varyfrom 23 to80% for respectivelypc-Si andmc-Si modules.However, themaximum voltage output (Vmax)andtheopen-circuit voltage (Voc)are notaffected bydust accumulationfor both technologiesstudied.The fill factor (FF)may decreasefrom 2%forthe pc-Simodule to 17% forthemc-Si module.