The Effect of Air Pollution on Photovoltaic Solar Panels Performance

Authors

Abstract

This research investigates the effect of air pollution, produced by combustion of diesel oil, on the performance parameters of mono-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) and polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) photovoltaic solar panel in a laboratory scale. The experiments were conducted in a solar simulator that was equipped with a chamber to produce air pollution. The air pollution was generated through the combustion of diesel oil in three levels of 3, 4 and 5 mL and was transferred to the chamber. The characteristics curves of current-voltage (I-V) and power- voltage (P-V) of these panels were plotted. The performance parameters, including the open-circuit voltage (Voc), the short-circuit current (Isc), the maximum power (P < sub>max), the maximum voltage (Vmax), and the maximum current (Imax) were determined. The results showed that the influence of air pollution on the whole performance parameters was significant. Increasing the concentration of air pollution leads to a decrease in the performance parameters, significantly. Overall, the reduction of the mc-Si efficiency compared with clean air in the three levels of pollution were %37.74, %55.87, and %66.61, respectively. Also, these values for the pc-Si panels were %25.70, %51.49, and %58.05, respectively.

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