TITLE:
Modelling of Photovoltaic Modules Optical Losses Due to Saharan Dust Deposition in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa
AUTHORS:
Dialo Diop, Mamadou Simina Drame, Moussa Diallo, David Malec, Dominique Mary, Philippe Guillot
KEYWORDS:
Dust Characterization, Modeling, Ellipsometry, PV Transmittance, Solar Panel, Spin Coating, X-Ray Fluorescence
JOURNAL NAME:
Smart Grid and Renewable Energy,
Vol.11 No.7,
July
31,
2020
ABSTRACT: This study aims to evaluate the optical losses of photovoltaic modules
due to Saharan dust deposition in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. For this
purpose, an air-dust-glass system is modeled to simulate optical losses in
transmittance and reflectance. To do this,
we have collected dust samples from Photo-Voltaic (PV) surface in Dakar
area (14°42'N latitude, 17°28'W longitude), Senegal. X-ray fluorescence reveals
that silicon (Si), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca) and potassium (K) mainly composed these dust samples. Then, dust refractive indices
obtained from an ellipsometer were used as an input to be used in the model.
Simulations show that for radiation (at normal incidence) arriving on a dust
layer of 30 μm-thick (corresponding to a dust deposit of 1.63 g/m2),
79% of the visible spectrum is transmitted; 19% is reflected and 2% is absorbed. Overall, the
transmittance decreases by more than 50% as of dust layer of 70 μm-thick
corresponding to a dust deposit of 3.3 g/m2.