Abstract
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) electricity is one of the most effective, eco-friendly, and sustainable source of energy. The amount of electricity produced by a PV system is directly affected by the level of solar irradiation incident to the PV panels. In the real operation, the dust from the surrounding environment falls and accumulates on PV panels. The accumulation of dust causes a decrease in the energy output of the PV system. This study was aimed to investigate the impact of dust on PV operation to its energy output under the urban climate of Surabaya, Indonesia. The study was conducted by comparing two identical PV panel systems, each of 300 Wp. For one system, the PV panels were manually cleaned regularly for the dust, while for another system is remained without any cleaning. Both systems were measured for their energy output, and the results are compared. The results showed that, during the dry season in Surabaya, the energy output from the cleaned PV panels system is higher by 20% in comparison with the uncleaned PV panels system. While, during the rainy season, both systems produce the same amount of energy. In total throughout the year, cleaning of PV panels system would increase the energy output of about 8%.
Highlights
The use of solar energy can reduce the need for fossil energy and in turn reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses being released into the atmosphere
The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of dust on the energy output of solar PV system deployed in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia
Solar irradiation during the rainy season varies between 2.0 – 4.5 kWh/day.m2 and the daily energy output ranged from 500 Wh to 1300 Wh per day
Summary
The use of solar energy can reduce the need for fossil energy and in turn reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses being released into the atmosphere. The efficiency of energy conversion is affected by many factors such as temperature, radiation, and dust. A quite number of studies on the subject of dust impact of PV system had been reported from different site of the world with different climates [2]–[6]. Al.,[5] from investigation of one year of power output from a PV site in Santa Clara, CA demonstrated how soiling decreases the efficiency of solar PV plants. Soiling effects were found to strongly depend on the dry exposure time of the panel. Soiling losses have their largest impact during the long dry summers. The losses caused by the accumulation of dust were estimated to be -0.0021 per day in relative solar conversion efficiency
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