Modeling the Effect of Relative Humidity and Precipitation on Photovoltaic Dust Accumulation Processes

Abstract

Dust is the cause of generation reduction of solar photovoltaic (SPV) modules from the day it is installed. Its deposition depends on geographical location of a module where it is installed, due to difference in meteorological events, causing variation in generation efficiency. In an earlier article, the dry deposition processes are modeled in which effects of relative humidity (RH) and precipitation are not considered. In this article, a more generalized mathematical model for dust deposition under varying humidity and precipitation condition is developed. The increase in deposition with different RH has been investigated using the developed model demonstrating an appreciable effect. The contribution of different types of precipitation is also included. The model based observations are utilized to calculate the energy generation under different meteorological events over a specific period and compared with the measured ones over the same time span from a 10 kWp SPV power plant at IIEST, Shibpur. The deviations are found to be within ±6% establishing the efficacy of the model.