Performance Analysis of Solar PV Modules with Dust Accumulation for Indian Scenario

Solar energy has proven to be an assured front runner among renewable energy sources since it is clean, cost-effective and environment friendly. The output power and lifespan of a photovoltaic module are governed by a variety of factors such as incident solar radiation intensity, cell temperature, cloud and other shading effects, dust accumulation, weather conditions, geographical location, module orientation, etc. This work examines the impact of dust accumulation on the performance of the 5 kW photovoltaic system installed on the rooftop of the laboratory at Delhi Technological University. Performance analysis of the 5 kW photovoltaic system is carried out over 62 days such that the panels were left naturally uncleaned for the first 31 days and then cleaned on a regular basis for the following 31 days. Performance parameters such as performance ratio, capacity factor, system energy yield and reference energy yield are derived. The performance analysis results of the practical 5 kW system were later compared with the PVsyst software results.