Experimental investigation of Different types of Dust effect on the Grid-connected Rooftop Solar Power Plant

ABSTRACT The accumulation of dust and dirt not only reduces the power output of the solar power plant but also reduces the performance ratio, efficiency, and energy generation (kWh). In this paper, a 100-kWsolar power plant was selected for the experiment. Firstly, string identification and selection were done to find out the strings for the experiment. A total of 5 strings were selected for the experiment and there were 19 photovoltaic panels were connected to each string. Sand, Cement, Talcum powder, and dry leaves were deposited on string-1, string-2, string-3, string-6, and string-7 as reference strings. This paper investigates the performance of these materials on the operating voltage, DC current, power, energy (kWh), performance ratio, and efficiency. However, the impact of these materials on the photovoltaic panel temperature was also investigated. It was calculated that the output power of the photovoltaic panel string-2 (cement), string-3 (Talcum powder), string-1 (sand), and string-6 (Dry leaves) was reduced by 81.4%,53.4%, 9.8%, and 0.9% compared to the reference string and minimum photovoltaic panel temperature was observed in the case of Talcum powder. After completion of the experiment, the selected string was manually cleaned with water and it was observed that sand and trash of dry leaves were easily cleaned by water but Cement and talcum powder needs high-pressure water and wiping with a microfiber cloth to prevent these substances from the surface of the photovoltaic panels. Also, some future studies are suggested in the end section of the research paper.KEYWORDS: Dust accumulationphotovoltaic (PV) panelpower reductionperformance ratioefficiencyenergy generated (kwh)cement Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).