Characterization of photovoltaic panels: The effects of dust

The renewable energy industry has been growing remarkably over the last years and the recent Fukushima nuclear crisis has given a further incentive worldwide. In this context, solar radiation represents one of the most accessible and clean energy resources. For this reason the number and scale of installed photovoltaic (PV) systems has been growing, and consequently the size of the associated investments, and the related opportunities and risks. Therefore for developers and investors the assessment of the quality, reliability and electrical performances of their PV plants is becoming more and more important. In previous papers by means of a failure modes and effects analysis some crucial aspects for the efficiency of PV system have been put in evidence. In particular, the paper focuses the attention on the presence of pollution and dust on the panel surface. Such phenomena, in fact, lead to a decrease of the transmittance of solar cell glazing and cause a significant degradation of solar conversion efficiency of PV modules. In this paper an experimental activity based on the electrical characterization of some PV modules in presence of powder is proposed. The results show that it is possible to optimize the electrical performances of the photovoltaic module by monitoring some parameters.