Influence of Pollen on Solar Photovoltaic Energy: Literature Review and Experimental Testing with Pollen

Carlos Sanz Saiz,Nuria Martín Chivelet,Jesús Polo Martínez

doi:10.3390/app10144733

Abstract

This work attempts to shed some light on the impact of organic soiling due to pollen on solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation. Apart from introducing several soiling-related pollen features, the previous works reporting soiling by pollen have been reviewed. Local observations from late winter to early spring showed that a rooftop PV system experienced both uniform and non-uniform soiling issues, which were mainly caused by pollen from nearby cypress specimens. In addition, this work publishes preliminary results regarding an artificial soiling test performed with pollen. In this test, soda lime float glass coupons were artificially soiled with fresh cypress pollen. A linear relationship was found between the pollen mass density (ρA) and the glass averaged transmittance (TAVE) for values up to 9.1 g/m2. In comparison with other artificial soiling tests performed with different soiling agents, the transmittance loss caused by pollen cypress deposition was relatively high and spectrally selective.

Highlights

According to the increasing number of scientific and technical papers published in recent times [1], the analysis of the soiling loss in photovoltaic (PV)systems has become an important topic of interest within the solar energy community
While TNORM dropped by ~5% and ~12% for pollen mass densities of 1.4 effect of theitaccumulation of cypress pollensoiling on thelevels, normalized transmission g/m2 The and detrimental
1.4 g/m and interval, 3.1 g/m, but respectively, it further decreased for higher In soiling levels, in the wavelength it decreased at shorter wavelengths

Summary

Introduction

According to the increasing number of scientific and technical papers published in recent times [1], the analysis of the soiling loss (i.e., the energy production loss caused by soiling) in photovoltaic (PV)systems has become an important topic of interest within the solar energy community. Soiling (i.e., dirt accumulation) is a very complex issue due to the large number of influencing parameters: the geographical location, the PV plant design, the PV module type, the surrounding environment, the specific particles causing soiling, and their seasonal atmospheric loads, etc. All these factors determine the local severity of soiling as well as the maintenance operations required to deal with it [4]. Depending upon the location of the PV system, the soiling layer may consist on a variable mixture of organic and inorganic matter (e.g., soot, dust, sand, sea salt, bird droppings, leaves, pollen, etc.) coming from a variety of sources (e.g., air pollution, mineral dust aerosol, marine aerosol, microbiological colonization, etc.)

Methods

Results

Conclusion