Abstract
This study scrutinizes the reliability and validity of existing analyses that focus on the impact of various environmental factors on a photovoltaic (PV) system’s performance. For the first time, four environmental factors (the accumulation of dust, water droplets, birds’ droppings, and partial shading conditions) affecting system performance are investigated, simultaneously, in one study. The results obtained from this investigation demonstrate that the accumulation of dust, shading, and bird fouling has a significant effect on PV current and voltage, and consequently, the harvested PV energy. ‘Shading’ had the strongest influence on the efficiency of the PV modules. It was found that increasing the area of shading on a PV module surface by a quarter, half, and three quarters resulted in a power reduction of 33.7%, 45.1%, and 92.6%, respectively. However, results pertaining to the impact of water droplets on the PV panel had an inverse effect, decreasing the temperature of the PV panel, which led to an increase in the potential difference and improved the power output by at least 5.6%. Moreover, dust accumulation reduced the power output by 8.80% and the efficiency by 11.86%, while birds fouling the PV module surface was found to reduce the PV system performance by about 7.4%.
Highlights
The increasing popularity of renewable energy over the last few decades has gained momentum owing to the continuing scarcity of fossil fuels
Two polycrystalline PV modules were tested for outdoor conditions for several weeks, and power output was monitored daily, every two hours
The results obtained for the two PV modules show that dust accumulation reduces the power output by 8.80% and the efficiency by 11.86%
Summary
The increasing popularity of renewable energy over the last few decades has gained momentum owing to the continuing scarcity of fossil fuels. The PV modules were regularly cleaned via pails of hot soapy water once annually The results from both plants revealed that weather conditions (i.e., dust, relative humidity, rain, and snow) have a primarily negative effect on a PV panel’s performance. Mehmet et al [12] discussed only the effect of panel quality and strength on production efficiency (i.e., Sustainability 2020, 12, 608 dust accumulation and water drops were not considered) They focused on studying the negative impact of energy losses in a PV system. To overcome these deficiencies in the current study, an experimental work has been carried out to examine the impact of various environmental factors on a PV system’s performance These include the impact of four common factors, such as the accumulation of dust, water droplets, birds’ droppings, and partial shading conditions on the system. This eases the burden and tedious task of having to examine numerous texts, separate studies, and causal factors pertaining to the environmental factors affecting PVPS performance, while offering a more rounded and comprehensive understanding of the numerous factors that impede the system’s overall performance
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