Effect of Dust Deposition on the Quantum Efficiency of BPS150-36 Polycrystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Modules during Winter Months in Pahou, Benin

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.