Impact of dust accumulation and deposits on polycrystalline solar panel: Case of Senegal

Abstract

This study focuses on the Sahel, one of the areas with the highest concentration of desert dust, with source areas having fine particle emissions in Chad, Niger, Mauritania, etc. It also includes areas of subsidence of air masses that promote the deposition of dust, such as Senegal. It turns out that the countries of Sahel are among the poorest in the world. They have a relatively low electrification rate. However, this area is also characterized by its good solar potential which makes it an ideal place for the installation of photovoltaic solar collectors. Senegal has launched the challenge to solve this problem of electrification by turning to renewable energies. But being a drop zone, the sensors on the ground will be impacted. This study defines the impact of the thickness of the dust deposit layer on a polycrystalline photovoltaic sensor. By looking at the behaviour of irradiation and aerosol deposition in Senegal with the ERA5 and Giovanni data, the intra-annual profile of deposition and irradiation in Senegal was established. By applying the results obtained on the climatology of these parameters to a monocrystalline solar photovoltaic collector, it was contrasted that the evolution of the power, as well as the yield of the collector was strongly impacted by the accumulation of the deposit after 5 years. The power delivered by the collector went from 59.779 W during the month of the 1st year of accumulation to 4.28 W during the last month of the 5th year of accumulation. The resulting yield is also affected. More detailed illustrations are given in this work.   Key words: Dust, accumulation, photovoltaic, polycrystalline, efficiency, Senegal.