Effects of Dust on the Performance of PV Panels

Accumulation of dust from the outdoor environment on solar photovoltaic panels is natural. There were studies that showed that the accumulated dust can reduce the performance of solar panels, but the results were not clearly quantified. The objective of this research was to study the effects of dust accumulation on the performance of solar panels. Experiments were conducted using dust particles on solar panels with a constant-power light source, to determine the resulting electrical power generated and the system efficiency. It was found from the study that the accumulated dust on the surface of photovoltaic solar panel can reduce the system’s efficiency by up to 50%.