The Impact of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) On Decreasing the Optical Efficiency of CSP Solar Power Plants-A case study: Eastern Morocco

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of optical depth of aerosol on decreasing the optical efficiency of solar power plants. The experimental study based on the measurements of the reflectivity of a square mirror and the measurement collected by the AERONET network, the purpose is to identify the correlation between the aerosols extinction and the soiling rate. We compare the variation of the AOD with the measurements of the variation of the reflectivity of a square mirror obtained by our weather station, it installed at the roof of the department of geography in the University of Mohamed first Oujda. The different results indicate that large particles contribute most to the forcing of solar radiation, more precisely they are responsible for the extinction of these radiations. On the other hand, it is noted that for the whole of the monitored period does not present the reflectivity measurement results although still under the influence of the Aerosol optical thickness, it is particularly the period during summer period which fine particles were much higher than the other seasons. Moreover, the volume distribution of aerosol particles in suspension plays an important role in the variation of the reflectivity, the magnitude of their variations decreases during the winter and increases in summer, as well the important influence of the sedimentation of large particles of aerosol on the reflectivity on the summer period.