Description
Solar photovoltaic power is widely utilized in the energy industry. The performance of solar panels is influenced by different variables, including solar radiation, temperature, wind speed, relative humidity and the presence of haze or dirt. Outdoor solar panels are particularly susceptible to a decrease in energy efficiency due to the accumulation of dust particles in the air, which occurs as a result of natural weather conditions. The extent of dust deposition is primarily determined by factors such as the tilt angle of the panel, wind direction, cleaning frequency as well as local meteorological and geographical conditions. The dust on the solar cell glazing reduces the optical transmittance of the light beam, causing shadowing and diminishing the energy conversion productivity of the panels. Sand storms, pollution levels and snow accumulations all significantly impact the photovoltaic panel performance. These circumstances reduce the efficiency of solar panels. The experiment was carried out on two identical dust-accumulated and dust-free panels. The evaluation was carried out in two different situations on the off- grid stand-alone system: in a simulated atmosphere and in an open space during the day. The current-voltage curves have been developed for both panels at various tilt degrees. The features provide sufficient information to analyse the performance of the panels under consideration. The measurements demonstrate that as dust collects on the panel’s surface, the average output power and short circuit current decrease dramatically. The installation tilt angle affected the ratio of efficiency and average power outputs of dusty and clean panels.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
APPROVAL PAGE
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
- Background of the project
- Problem statement
- Aim and objectives of the project
- Scope of the project
- Significance of the project
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 REVIEW OF THE STUDY
2.2 OVERVIEW OF SOLAR POWER
2.3 REVIEW OF SOLAR PANEL
2.5 SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC
- OVERVIEW OF SOLAR ENERGY
- MAXIMIUM ANGLE OF INCLINATION
- EFFECT OF DUST PROPERTIES
- EFFECT OF PV SYSTEM PARAMETERS
- EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENT PARAMETERS
- REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
- PM POLLUTION
- PHOTOVOLTAICS
- PV basics
2.13 FACTORS AFFECTING PV PERFORMANCE
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 MATHEMATICAL MODEL
3.2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
Due to the combustion of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution, the world is currently suffering from environmental problems such as rapid climate change and air pollution (IPCC 2013). To tackle climate change and respective environmental problems, many countries around the world are trying to reduce the use of fossil energy, which is the main cause behind the increase in greenhouse gases and low air quality, and expand the share of renewable energy (IEA 2016). The basic principle of solar PV power is producing energy using solar panels which generate electricity when sunlight passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed in the panels (Rauschenbach 2012). Thus, the energy production of solar PV power plants mainly depends on the amount of solar radiation, and among them, the Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) is the most important (Lave et al 2015). GHI is solar energy that goes through the earth’s atmosphere and reaches a point on the surface horizontally; thus, solar PV power generation is affected by various environmental factors such as geographical and meteorological factors (Benghanem et al 2009, Jo et al 2012). However, the changes of meteorological factors are fluid and complex, making it difficult to predict solar PV power generation. Among meteorological factors, particulate matter influence solar PV power generation the most because they reduce solar radiation reaching the surface by reflecting and scattering sunlight entering the Earth at the atmosphere (Matuszko 2012). In Nigeria, the effect of particulate matter describing solar power is well-explained with a margin of error of −1.4–5.7% (Jo et al 2012).
Although the impact of GHI and particulate matter (PM) is dominant when predicting solar PV power generation, it is also important to consider the impact of PM on solar PV power generation on clear days without the effect of clouds. High concentrations of airborne PM in the atmosphere reduce solar radiation as well as related solar PV power generation by absorbing or scattering sunlight before it reaches the surface of the Earth (Streets et al 2006, Xia et al 2007, Zhao et al 2013, Li et al 2017). The attenuation impacts of PM on solar radiation and respective solar PV power generation have accessed both natural and anthropogenic emissions of PM are relatively higher than other regions.
Particulate matter (PM) is the most important factors that affect the energy conversion of photovoltaic modules in many regions (Chaichan et al., 2015). Particulate matter (PM)lower and disperse the intensity of the solar irradiation impacting on the photovoltaic modules, as a result, the conversion efficiency is reduced by accumulated particulate matter (PM). It was observed that the rate of particulate matter on photovoltaic modules depends on a number of factors, like local weather conditions, airborne particle concentration, type and size of particle distribution, composition, shape, and density (Cui et al., 2021).
Particulate matter (such dust) on the surface of any photovoltaic module will depend on the dust type, weather, surrounding environment, PV module characteristics, and installation design (Konyu et al., 2020). The efficiency and output energy of a PV module would decline as the rate of particulate matter (PM) deposition on the module surface increases. In desert regions, particulate matter accumulation reduces the total output energy of photovoltaic modules by an average of almost 40% within a year (Ahmed and Massier, 2019). The solar energy incident on the surface of Earth in 1 hour is nearly equal to the total consumption of Earth in 1 year (Tomin et al., 2022). When solar irradiation passes through the atmosphere, it is absorbed by solid particles and droplets in the atmosphere and reflected by water vapor and air molecules, resulting in significant loss of energy. However, solar radiation is absorbed by dust and other pollutants and scattered backward, resulting in a decrease in direct solar radiation and an increase in diffuse solar radiation. Hence, compared to clean air in non-industrial rural areas, cities and polluted areas generally receive less total solar irradiation (Darwish et al., 2018). Another important aspect that greatly affects the rate of dust deposition on the PV module is how close it is to an area where dust is most likely to be airborne (Cheema et al., 2021). The particle size distribution of dust deposited on the surface of photovoltaic modules and its chemical and physical properties have a major impact on the degradation in the performance of the photovoltaic module (Kaldellis and Kapsali, 2011). The size of deposited solid particles has a significant impact on the absorption and scattering of incident radiation on the photovoltaic module, resulting in a decrease in the efficiency of photovoltaic modules. Larger particles are more likely to resuspend with the airflow, promoting the deposition of smaller particles. Compared with large particles with the same quality and volume of the deposited dust, fine/small particles have a larger specific surface area and have a greater impact in degradation of the photovoltaic cell performance (Weber et al., 2014). The size of dust particles gathered on the surface is divided into three different ranges: small-sized particles (up to 5.0 μm in diameter) that come from large-spaced areas, medium particles (20.0 μm–40.0 μm in diameter) that contain dust deposits from regional sources, and large-sized particles (50.0 μm–70 μm) that come from automobiles, humans, and livestock. Gravity or other forces related to heat transfer and fluid flow causes solid particles or droplets to accumulate on a PV module surface (Jiang and Lu, 2015). The performance of photovoltaic modules is reduced by solid particles. This causes power losses, which reduces the system efficiency and increases temperature, which further reduces system performance and service life. The chemical composition of deposited dust, its concentration, and the creation of a dust layer on the photovoltaic surface vary greatly depending on location and time (Styszko et al., 2019). In addition, after the East Asian monsoon, PM concentrations vary seasonally due to major fluctuations in rainfall and regional circulation (Lou et al., 2019). The impact of dust deposition on the performance of PV modules is observable, but the dust composition might be different depending on the location, so the degree of reduction in the photovoltaic module efficiency may vary from location to location (Andrea et al., 2019). However, the solar panel manufacturer typically guarantees 80% of the nominal module power for up to 25 years, and the output power is highly dependent on local environmental conditions and ambient intensity. Dust deposition has no effect on the open circuit voltage of a photovoltaic module, but it has a significant impact on the short circuit current, resulting in a drop in output current and, as a result, power generation is decreased. The dust deposition represents a massive loss in energy production and an economic loss for a photovoltaic power plant (Mustafa et al., 2020).
A research study is presented to evaluate the impact of particulate matter on the performance of photovoltaic.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Solar energy is the most important and primary renewable energy source due to its free availability and environmental friendliness (Thapar, 2019). However, the performance of all types of photovoltaic modules is affected by a large number of environmental factors (air temperature, wind speed, the angle of incident irradiation, solar radiation intensity, solar radiation spectrum, air pollution, snow, aging, dirt, and shadows) (Hassan et al., 2016; Kazem et al., 2017; Chaichan and Kazem, 2018). One of the most important factors that affect the energy conversion of photovoltaic modules in many regions is Particulate matter (Chaichan et al., 2015). Because particulate matter lower and disperse the intensity of the solar irradiation impacting on the photovoltaic modules, as a result, the conversion efficiency is reduced by particulate matter. It was observed that the rate of particulate matter on photovoltaic modules depends on a number of factors, like local weather conditions, airborne particle concentration, type and size of particle distribution, composition, shape, and density (Javed e t al., 2017; Cui et al., 2021).
Particulate matter deposition has no effect on the open circuit voltage of a photovoltaic module, but it has a significant impact on the short circuit current, resulting in a drop in output current and, as a result, power generation is decreased. The particulate matter deposition represents a massive loss in energy production and an economic loss for a photovoltaic power plant. However, these losses led us to evaluate the impact of the particulate matters on the performance of the photovoltaic was carried out.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the study
The aim of this work is to evaluate the impact of particulate matter on the performance of photovoltaic. The objectives of the study are:
- To evaluate the effect of soil dust accumulation on PV performance.
- To develop a Mathematical Model to suggest a cleaning time for the soil dust panel
- To develop a cost benefit analysis of cleaning PV systems to mitigate Particulate matter impact
1.4 Scope of the study
The scope of this work covers the study of the effects of PM and other meteorological factors affecting the amount of solar PV power generation. The results of this study will provide a more realistic evaluation of the attenuation impact of PM concentration on solar PV power generation using actual records from solar PV power plants, which can be applied to other modeling assessments and further improve the efficiency of solar PV power generation.
1.5 Significance of the study
This study will serve as means enlightening all readers of this work on how the accumulation of PM layers on the PV module surface causes significant reduction in PV system performance thereby consequently leading to power loss, reduction of service life, and increase in module temperature.
This study will also serve as a meaning of educating all solar installers or solar installation companies on how to reduce the accumulation of particulate matters thereby increasing solar energy efficiency.
This study will also serve as a means of making recommendations on the negative impact of PM on the performance of the PV system should be considered carefully during the decision-making process of setting solar energy generation targets in the regions with a high level of particulate matter.
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
The study was done to provide early insight into the effects of collected dust on the photovoltaic (PV) panel performance. The study describes the indoor controlled and outdoor natural conditioned experimental setups. The experiment yields the current-voltage characteristics curves for various tilt angles, temperatures and insolation levels, i.e., 500 W/m2 indoors and 950 W/m2 outdoors. The investigation was carried out on two similar panels, and a thorough analysis was conducted to determine the impact of dust accumulation on the panel performance. The monitored panel tem- perature was found to increase in dust accumulated PV panels, more in the natural open-air conditions than in the indoor conditions. The con- taminated panel’s short circuit currents were greatly decreased, whereas the open-circuit voltages had only slightly reduced values. The efficiencies and average powers of dusty PV panels were found to significantly decrease with respect to clean panels. The collection of airborne dust particles significantly lowers the optical transmittance of solar cell glazing.
The density of dust sitting over the panel with the particle dimensions and colour can be considered for future work. The dimension of the poly- disperse particles with scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy can be useful in analysing the behaviour of the dust particles, which can be further used in designing the cleaning methodologies for specific locations. The horizontal panels amass dust with a high particle density. Panels with dust deposition suffer from substantial power loss, causing massive solar power-producing houses to suffer from electrical and economic power loss. The generation must be kept running by cleaning the panels regularly. Cleaning at regular intervals with self-cleaning technology may be implemented with solar panels to achieve optimal transmission through solar cell glazing. Because urban regions are more prone to pollution, it is recommended to employ auto-cleaning technologies to obtain optimal energy conversion efficiency from solar panels. The location of the site determines the frequency of cleaning.
