Analysis and evaluation of the impact of climatic conditions on thephotovoltaic modules performance in the desert environment

Type : Publication
Auteur(s) :  A Bouraiou, M. Hamouda, A. Chaker, M. Mostefaoui, S. Lachtar, M. Sadok, N. BOUTASSETA, M. Othmani, I. Attoui
Année :  2015
Domaine : Génie électrique
Revue : Energy Conversion and Management
Résumé en PDF :  (résumé en pdf)
Fulltext en PDF :  (.pdf)
Mots clés :  Photovoltaic module, Performance evaluation, degradation, Desert environment

Résumé : 

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of climatic conditions on the performance ofphotovoltaic modules installed in the desert region in south of Algeria. Firstly, the performance ofISOFOTON 100 module under daily weather conditions is evaluated. Next, the effects of partial shadingand accumulation of sand dust for a period of two months on power loss and the current–voltagecharacteristics of photovoltaic modules are examined. Finally, the visual inspection of the degradationof the UDTS 50 modules such as discoloration of encapsulant and delamination show the influence ofhigh temperature and the other climatic factors in the Saharan environment after a long time exposureof more than 10 years observed in the field at the Unit of Research in Renewable energy URERMS Adrar.The performance degradation is also assessed using (I–V and P–V) curves normalized at STC conditioncompared with the nominal STC data given by the manufacturer. The experimental results show thatthe performance parameters such as maximum output current (Imax), maximum output voltage (Vmax),maximum power output (Pmax), open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Isc) and fill factor (FF)of UDTS 50 modules are degraded after these years of exposition.