Investigation of weather conditions on the output power of various photovoltaic systems

Abstract

The quantity of solar radiation received by photovoltaic panel surfaces and their efficiency are influenced by environmental factors, including dust buildup and weather changes. This study presents an experimental analysis to determine how dust and rain affected the output of photovoltaic power for five different types and orientations of solar module systems of 5 kW each. All systems are installed at Applied Science Private University in Jordan, and attached to sunny portal system to monitor the PV output power for each type in real time. After one–four weeks of exposure, the effects of dust buildup and weather conditions on the power output of the module systems were examined. The results showed that four weeks of dust buildup resulted in 16.7%, 28%, 16.6%, 26.7%, and 21% reduction in PV power production for Monocrystalline (c-Si)/South, Monocrystalline (c-Si) East/West, Polycrystalline (p-Si)/South, Polycrystalline (p-Si)/East/West, and Thin-film (a-Si, microcrystalline)/South system respectively. In addition, a 20% average decrease and fluctuation in PV output power under wet conditions is observed. Moreover, the results showed that the power sold to the grid would be lower than predicted by 21% after one month of dust accumulation, which should be included in energy management planning.