Dust Accumulation on the Surface of Photovoltaic Panels: Introducing the Photovoltaic Soiling Index (PVSI)

Thermodynamic and economic comparison of photovoltaic electricity generation with and without self-cleaning photovoltaic panels

In this study, thermodynamic and economic analysis of a photovoltaic electricity generation system (PVEGS) with and without self-cleaning panels is reported. In the first part, thermodynamic analyses are used to characterize the performance of the system. In the second part, the economic comparison of photovoltaic electricity generation with and without self-cleaning panels is carried out for a...

Measured Performance of Building Integrated Photovoltaic Panels

Modelling an Emulator of Photovoltaic Panels

Photovoltaic emulators (PVE) are power electronic systems able to reproduce the output "CurrentVoltage" characteristics of photovoltaic panels in various operating conditions. They are indispensable for the design and evaluation of the operational components of a photovoltaic energy system, such as battery chargers and Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT). Those emulators prevent the experimenta...

The effect of dust on solar photovoltaic systems

Soiling is the accumulation of dust on solar panels that causes a decrease in optical efficiencies of CSP systems. However, geographically widespread data is only available for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The changes in efficiency of a large commercial site (86.4 kWdc) was quantified during the summer dry period over the course of 2010 with respect to rain events observed at a nearby weath...

An electronic load for testing photovoltaic panels

The characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) panels in the field conditions are to be obtained using a fast varying load. The paper presents a simple electronic load for testing a set of PV panels using linear metal oxide field effect transistors (MOSFETs). The proposed test set up gives the current versus voltage and power versus voltage characteristics of PV panels by quickly scanning the load. D...