Experimental Investigation of Dust Accumulation on the Performance of the Photovoltaic Modules: a Case Study of Karachi, Pakistan
Ahsan Ahmed, Asad A. Naqvi, Talha Bin Nadeem, Muhammad Uzair
Abstract
Karachi, Pakistan has great solar energy potential. Solar energy can be converted to electricity using photovoltaic (PV) technology. Dust accumulation can significantly suppress the performance of the PV modules. This research work is the first experimental study to examine the effect of dust deposition on the surface of PV modules in Karachi, Pakistan. An experimental setup of polycrystalline modules has been created by connecting three panels in a parallel arrangement. These panels were placed in an outdoor environment for one year to determine output power, efficiency and performance ratio. The results of this study indicated that the dust deposition on PV modules can cause an average reduction of 14.6 W/month in power, 0.3%/month in efficiency and 1.84% in performance ratio in the environment of Karachi. For PV modules of 780 W, the performance of PV modules is reduced by 2.21% due to dust deposition.