Effect of Dust Deposition on the Quantum Efficiency of BPS150-36 Polycrystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Modules during Winter Months in Pahou, Benin
Minadohona Maxime Capo-Chichi
Département de Physique (FAST) et Formation Doctorale Sciences des Matériaux (FDSM), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Bénin and Laboratoire de Physique du Rayonnement LPR, FAST-UAC, 01 BP 526 Cotonou, Bénin.
Basile Bruno Kounouhéwa
Département de Physique (FAST) et Formation Doctorale Sciences des Matériaux (FDSM), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Bénin and Laboratoire de Physique du Rayonnement LPR, FAST-UAC, 01 BP 526 Cotonou, Bénin.
Vianou Irénée Madogni *
Département de Physique (FAST) et Formation Doctorale Sciences des Matériaux (FDSM), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Bénin and Laboratoire de Physique du Rayonnement LPR, FAST-UAC, 01 BP 526 Cotonou, Bénin.
Macaire Agbomahéna
Laboratoire de Caractérisation Thermophysique des Matériaux et Appropriation Energétique (Labo CTMAE/EPAC/UAC), Abomey-Calavi, Bénin.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Dust is the lesser acknowledged factor that significantly influences the performance of the PV cells/modules.
We investigated analytically from optical models, the performance degradation of the BPS150-36 Polycrystalline silicon module, caused by the natural dust deposition effects on the transparent panel surface.
We modeled, a system (Air-dust-glass) formed of a dust layer supposed opaque and formed of several thousand small grains of different sizes settled on the glass surface. The Matrix-Transfer theory with the cubic spline interpolation method has been exploited for data correlation. Matlab software has been used to results in numerical simulation.
The results obtained show a decrease in PV output intensity, the supply voltage and therefore the power output. That strongly depends on dust thickness on the panel’s surface over a period of three months.
The drop in PV cell quantum efficiency is directly caused by the dust accumulation, trees debris and bird’s droppings on the cells/modules surface. The meteorological conditions, the installations quality and the geographical position of PV cells/modules can also influence the photovoltaic process. These factors have not been taken into account in our model.
Keywords: Degradation, dust depositing effect, matrix-transfer theory, drop, meteorological conditions, photovoltaic process.