Open AccessExperimental study of the impact of dust on azimuth tracking solar PV in Sharjah
Author(s) -
Mohamed Abdelsalam,
Fahad Ahmad,
Abdul-Kadir Hamid,
Chaouki Ghenaï,
Oussama Rejeb,
Monadhel Alchadirchy,
Waleed Obaid,
Mamdouh El Haj Assad
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of power electronics and drive systems/international journal of electrical and computer engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2722-2578
pISSN - 2722-256X
DOI - 10.11591/ijece.v11i5.pp3671-3681
Subject(s) - environmental science , photovoltaic system , span (engineering) , meteorology , azimuth , atmospheric sciences , irradiance , solar irradiance , sunlight , tracking (education) , shadow (psychology) , remote sensing , optics , engineering , physics , electrical engineering , geology , psychology , pedagogy , civil engineering , psychotherapist
Dust is one of the significant constraints in utilizing solar photovoltaic systems under harsh weather conditions in the desert regions due to creating a shadow that blocks solar irradiance from reaching solar cells and consequently, significantly reducing their efficiency. In this research, experimental study was performed to comprehend the nature of dust particles and their impact on the electrical power output that is generated from azimuth tracking solar PV modules under Sharjah environmental conditions in winter season. According to laboratory experiments, the power losses are linearly related to the dust accumulated density on the surface of the solar panel with a slope of 1.27% per g/m2. The conducted Outdoor studies revealed that the absolute reduction in output power increased by 8.46% after 41 continuous days with one low-intensity rainy day. The linear relationship obtained from indoor experiments was applied later to estimate the dust deposited density on the outdoor setup. The results showed that a regular cleaning process every two weeks is recommended to maintain the performance and to avoid the soiling loss. This work will help engineers in the solar PV plants to forecast the dust impact and figure out the regularity of the cleaning process in case of single axis tracking systems.