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A characterization study for the properties of dust particles collected on photovoltaic (PV) panels in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

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  • Dhaouadi, Rached
  • Al-Othman, Amani
  • Aidan, Ahmed A.
  • Tawalbeh, Muhammad
  • Zannerni, Rawan

Abstract

Dust accumulation on photovoltaic (PV) modules is responsible for the reduction in solar radiation received and/or transmitted, hence, decreases the efficiency of the PV cells. To enhance the performance of PV modules, the nature and the structure of dust should be evaluated. This paper investigates the seasonal variability of dust and PV soiling losses over 4 months (15 weeks, over the summer of 2018) in a soiling station deployed at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. A custom-made setup was employed to collect the dust samples on glass sheets. This will provide a better understanding of the soil deposition rates and composition. The accumulated dust was characterized for its morphological and elemental properties. The dust samples were directly collected from the panels mounted outdoor in the desert environment. Various characterization techniques were performed to determine the dust samples’ composition. The results showed that the dust particles are mostly rich in carbon, oxygen, calcium, silicon, thus indicating the presence of silica and calcite. UV–Vis results showed a decrease in transmittance of 30% after 15 weeks of soiling. This results of this work are essential for the development of proper self-cleaning techniques for PV modules deployed in Sharjah.

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  • Dhaouadi, Rached & Al-Othman, Amani & Aidan, Ahmed A. & Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Zannerni, Rawan, 2021. "A characterization study for the properties of dust particles collected on photovoltaic (PV) panels in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 133-140.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:171:y:2021:i:c:p:133-140
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.02.083
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    5. Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Murtaza, Sana Z.M. & Al-Othman, Amani & Alami, Abdul Hai & Singh, Karnail & Olabi, Abdul Ghani, 2022. "Ammonia: A versatile candidate for the use in energy storage systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 955-977.
    6. Tang, Wuqin & Yang, Qiang & Dai, Zhou & Yan, Wenjun, 2024. "Module defect detection and diagnosis for intelligent maintenance of solar photovoltaic plants: Techniques, systems and perspectives," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    7. Wu, Yubo & Du, Jianqiang & Liu, Guangxin & Ma, Danzhu & Jia, Fengrui & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Wang, Jin, 2022. "A review of self-cleaning technology to reduce dust and ice accumulation in photovoltaic power generation using superhydrophobic coating," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1034-1061.
    8. Hamed Hanifi & Bengt Jaeckel & Matthias Pander & David Dassler & Sagarika Kumar & Jens Schneider, 2022. "Techno-Economic Assessment of Half-Cell Modules for Desert Climates: An Overview on Power, Performance, Durability and Costs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, April.
    9. Fan, Siyuan & Wang, Xiao & Wang, Zun & Sun, Bo & Zhang, Zhenhai & Cao, Shengxian & Zhao, Bo & Wang, Yu, 2022. "A novel image enhancement algorithm to determine the dust level on photovoltaic (PV) panels," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(P1), pages 172-180.

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