Experimental Study on the Effect of Dust Deposition on a Car Park Photovoltaic System with Different Cleaning Cycles

Khaled M. Alawasa, Rashid S. AlAbri, Amer S. Al-Hinai, Mohammed H. Albadi and Abdullah H. Al-Badi
Additional contact information
Khaled M. Alawasa: Department of Electrical Engineering, Mutah University, Mutah 61710, Jordan
Rashid S. AlAbri: Sustainable Energy Research Center (SERC), Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Muscat 123, Oman
Amer S. Al-Hinai: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Muscat 123, Oman
Mohammed H. Albadi: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Muscat 123, Oman
Abdullah H. Al-Badi: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Muscat 123, Oman

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 14, 1-16

Abstract: For a decade, investments in solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have been increasing exponentially in the Middle East. Broadly speaking, these investments have been facing tremendous challenges due to the harsh weather in this particular part of the world. Dust accumulation is one the challenges that negatively affects the performance of solar PV systems. The overall goal of this paper is to thoroughly investigate the effect of dust accumulation on the energy yield of car park PV systems. With this aim in mind, the paper presents scientific values for further research and opens the horizon for attracting further investments in solar PV systems. This study is based on a real PV system in the Sultanate of Oman and considers different cleaning cycles for 16 months (from 29 July 2018 to 10 November 2019). Furthermore, four different PV groups were assessed, and the system was monitored under different cleaning frequencies. In general, it was found that dust accumulation has a significant impact; under 29-day, 32-day, 72-day, and 98-day cleaning cycles, the average percentages of energy loss due to soiling were 9.5%, 18.2%, 31.13%, and 45.6%, respectively. In addition, the dust effect has a seasonal variation. The study revealed that dust accumulation has a more negative impact during summer than during winter. During summer, the energy losses due to soiling were 8.7% higher than those during winter. The difference was attributed to different environmental conditions, with high humidity and low wind speed being the main factors that worsen the impact of dust during summer. Based on the findings of this research, a monthly cleaning program is highly recommended in the city of Muscat.

Keywords: car park PV system; dust deposition; photovoltaic output energy; cleaning cycles; soiling loss (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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