A NEW CORRELATION BETWEEN PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS

EFFICIENCY AND AMOUNT OF SAND DUST

ACCUMULATED ON THEIR SURFACE

Ahmad Y. Al-Hasan+, and Adel A. Ghoneim*

+ Electronic Engineering Department, College of Technological Studies,
Shuwaikh 70654, Kuwait,
* Applied Sciences Department, College of Technological Studies,
Shuwaikh 70654, Kuwait, E-mail: aghoneim@paaet.edu.kw

ABSTRACT

The accumulation of dust particles on the surface of photovoltaic panel greatly affects
its performance especially in the dusty areas. In the present work, an experimental and
theoretical study has been carried out to investigate the effect of sand dust
concentration on the efficiency of photovoltaic panels. A stand alone photovoltaic
system is designed to carry out this work. The I-V characteristic has been measured
simultaneously for both clean and dusty modules. It has been found that the short
circuit current and the maximum output power decreases significantly as dust
particles start to accumulate on panel surface up to concentration of 1 g/m2, but the
rate of decrease is slower for concentrations beyond that value. The reduction in short
circuit current in one sample of study is found to be about 40% while it is
approximately 34% in the maximum output power. On the other hand, it is stated that
the open circuit voltage is not sensitive to sand dust accumulation. A significant
degradation in the efficiency of photovoltaic modules is observed for sand dust
accumulation up to 1 g/m2. A linear relation has been proposed to correlate the
degradation in efficiency to the amount of sand dust accumulated on module surface.
This relation can help photovoltaic system designers to reliably predict the effect of
sand dust accumulation on photovoltaic module efficiency under real environmental
conditions.

KEYWORDS: photovoltaic efficiency, radiation attenuation, dust accumulation

1. INTRODUCTION

Solar energy systems are now widely used in many applications. In some
countries which receives high amount of solar radiation, solar energy systems may be
competitive with conventional fuel systems. In addition, conventional methods of
generating energy usually produce pollutants such as carbon dioxide, the main gas
responsible for global warming. On the other hand, solar energy is clean, quiet,
abundant, and renewable energy source which produces no pollution to the
environment.
 Kuwait is considered as one of the world regions that receives a great portion of
solar radiation especially in summer time with almost ten sunshine hours per day [1].
One of the most promising applications of solar energy in Kuwait would be
photovoltaic (PV) systems. Photovoltaics (PV) are the direct conversion of sunlight to
electricity. It is an attractive alternative to conventional sources of electricity for many
reasons: it is silent, non-polluting, and renewable; it is reasonably reliable, requires
simple maintenance, and it can be installed anywhere. With the widespread
commercialization of PV and other renewable energy resources, our society will
become less dependent on conventional fuel systems which can in return maintain our
environment healthy and clean. The magnitude of the incident solar radiation on an
array, the temperature of the array, and the nature of the load connected to the array
are the most important factors determining its power output at a given time.
However, the amount of sand dust accumulated on the module surface can
significantly affect the module efficiency and the useful output energy.

The Kuwait climate is characterized by sand dust and sand dust storms every year
especially at summer times. This problem will introduce many sand dust particles to
be accumulated on photovoltaic modules, which consequently cause degradation in
the efficiency of photovoltaic modules. For this reason, this work investigates the
relationship between the amount of sand dust particles accumulated on the surface of
photovoltaic module and its efficiency. This study can be of great importance to solar
systems designers in Kuwait and all other countries with similar weather conditions of
sand dust and sand dust storms.

The dirt accumulated on the panel surface decreases the transmittance of radiation
and consequently decreases the useful energy received by the panels specially in arid
areas leading to degradation in the panel efficiency. A review of literature has
demonstrated that a little attention has been devoted to study the effect of sand dust
accumulation on the performance of both solar collector and photovoltaic cells, i.e.
panels efficiency. To investigate the effect of dirt on collector performance, Hottel and
Woertz [2] performed measurements on three sets of collectors and concluded that
dirt accumulated on glass inclined at an angle of 30 from horizontal in an industrial
area in the United States causes a maximum reduction in the collector performance of
4.7% while the average reduction in the energy output is approximately 1%. In
addition, they found that the percentage loss of the incident radiation is lower than
1%. This is mainly due to the dependence of the useful energy on other factors which
highly depends on time.

Garg [3] conducted experimental measurements for 30 rainless days in Roorkee

which is situated in the northern part of India. He found that dust reduced
transmittance by about 8% for glass tilted at 45 on the horizontal. Another study have
been carried out by Nahar and Gupta [4] in Thar desert, India to evaluate the
reduction in transmittance of different glazing materials. It is concluded that reduction
in transmittance due to dust decreases with the increase in tilt from the horizontal
because accumulation of dust decreases when increasing the tilt angle from
horizontal. In addition, they stated that the annual average reduction in transmittance
for a 24 h cleaning cycle was 4.26%, 2.94%, 1.365 for glass while the values are
5.27%, 3.98%, and 1.78% for acrylic having a tilt of 0, 45, and 90, respectively
from the horizontal. Moon [5] developed an empirical formula to determine the
transmission factor for an air mass and average concentration of dust particles of 800/
cm3 at the ground. The average transmittance factor was estimated to be 0.922.

Zarem and Erway [6] indicated that dust can reduce the intensity of solar radiation
received by the collector surface by a factor of 5%. Duffie and Beckman [7]
recommended a factor of 0.98 to account for dust. Sayigh [8] studied the effect of
three days dust accumulation in Riyadh city. A reduction of 30% in useful energy
gained by a horizontal collector is observed. Nimmo and Seid [9] observed 26% and
40% loss in the efficiency of thermal panels and photovoltaic cells, respectively due
to dust accumulation over a period of six months.

Macomber et al [10] showed that several months of operating a photovoltaic

module without cleaning caused loses due to dirt of 40% in Chicago and 12 % in New
York. Duffenbaugh et al [11] presented a dust factor to account for dust accumulation
on parabolic trough solar collectors. The long term performance of residential solar
heating systems is studied by Ward and Lof [12]. Over a 15 year period of study, they
found that the useful solar heat collected is reduced to 71.8% of its original value.
Proctor and Czarnecki [13] calculated the effect of ageing on a 22 year old solar water
heater. They predicted that the degradation in the collectors thermal performance was
due mainly to failure in glazing seal.

Wakim [14] had found a reduction of 17% in photovoltaic panel's power in

Kuwait due to sand dust accumulation on the panels after six days. Salim et. al. [15]
have constructed a photovoltaic test system in April 1987 at the solar village near
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to study the effect of long term accumulation of sand dust on
the energy output of a fixed photovoltaic array. The monthly energy reduction for the
dusty array was obtained by comparing its performance with an identical array that
was cleaned daily. The reduction in the energy output from the dusty array reached
32% at the end of eight months. During the following four months, which are the
months of winter, the reduction in the energy output from the dusty array was only 2%
due to the washing of rainfall.

Said [16] measured the performance of one photovoltaic and two thermal panels
during several months of outdoor exposure in Dhahran desert, Saudi Arabia. The
panel was oriented to the south with a tilt angle of 26 to the horizontal. The peak
power efficiency of clean and dusty photovoltaic panels were measured and
calculated. The average degradation rate of the efficiency was found to be 7% per
month for photovoltaic panel, while for the thermal panels, the average degradation
rate of the optical efficiency ranged from 2.8% to 7% per month.

El-shobokshy et al [17] made the first attempt to correlate the amount of

accumulated dust on the panels to the degradation in the efficiency. They studied the
effect of dust on the performance of photovoltaic concentrators by measuring the dust
concentration in the air continuously during the test period in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Two concentrators were used each consists of six 2cmx2cm Si photovoltaic cells. One
concentrator was always maintained clean, while the other was left dusty throughout
the test period. They performed the test during May 1982. The rate of dust deposition
was determined and the geometric mean diameter of the dust particles was estimated
to be 8.5 m. They related the change of I-V characteristics due to dust accumulation
to the amount of dust accumulated per unit area of the panel surface. They stated that
the dust accumulation per unit area is more dominant than the exposure time.

Al-Hasan [18] investigated experimentally and theoretically the effect of sand dust
layer on beam light transmittance at the surface of a photovoltaic module. It is
predicted that the incidence wavelength has a negligible effect on light transmittance
in the visible region. In addition a new correlation is presented to predict the amount
of beam solar radiation received by module surface as a function of sand dust particles
size and amount accumulated on the surface in dusty climate of Kuwait.

The above discussion shows that most of the research work was based on time;
days, weeks, or months, that the panels were exposed to sand dust. The amount of
sand dust accumulation on the glazing of the modules is different from one place to
another around the world for the same time of exposure due to many different factors
related to the location and environmental conditions. Therefore, it is not correct to
depend on the time of exposure to evaluate the degradation of modules' efficiency
with respect of time or number of days or weeks. It is the amount of sand dust
particles accumulated on the photovoltaic modules that causes performance
degradation. So, the degradation of the modules efficiency should be correlated to the
amount of sand dust accumulated on the surface of photovoltaic module. In addition it
should be mentioned that it is the amount of sand dust accumulated on module surface
dust rather than the number of days that should be correlated to the degradation in the
efficiency of solar modules. This mainly because the amount of sand dust particles
accumulated on module surface is site dependent.

To our knowledge, no work has been done to correlate the degradation in

photovoltaic panel efficiency to the amount of sand dust accumulate on module
surface in Kuwait climate. So, the main objective of the present work is to investigate
the effect of the amount of accumulated dust on the efficiency of a photovoltaic
module in Kuwait climate (latitude 30). Since dust storms are a characteristic of
Kuwait region climate, any long term performance prediction should include a factor
that accounts for degradation due to dust accumulation. The effects of dust on the
performance of photovoltaic panels are measured in Kuwait climate. The IV
characteristic curves are measured simultaneously for both clean solar cell module
and dusty module which is exposed to dust for a certain period of time. The weight of
a glass sample placed beside the modules is determined first, then the weight of the
glass sample is determined again with sand dust accumulated on its surface. The
difference between the two weights is considered as the weight of the sand dust
particles deposited on photovoltaic array surface.
2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The efficiency of a solar module is expected to decrease significantly due to the

rate of dust accumulation on its surface. The rate of dust accumulation is a strong
function of the dust concentration in the atmosphere. So, the study of the effect of
dust on the efficiency of photovoltaic panel should deal with the amount of dust
accumulation in the atmosphere surrounding the solar module as well as its variation
with time. To carry out the present study, a stand-alone photovoltaic system was
installed on the roof of the main building in the College of Technological Studies,
Kuwait. The system consists of two solar modules (Siemens SM55) tilted 30 on the
horizontal and mounted due south. The two modules are mounted beside each other
on a metal frame. Each module is connected to a variable resistance load through an
electrical circuit to measure the I-V characteristics. The circuit includes a two-way
switch which is adapted to the circuit to select one photovoltaic module at a time for
measuring its output I-V characteristics. The output of each module is connected to
Servogor 790 XY-Yt Compact Recorder to plot the measured I-V characteristics. To
measure the amount of sand dust particles accumulated on the module surface, a small
glass samples measure 2cmx4cm were mounted beside the modules.

The very fine sand dust particles were collected from the desert and cleaned from
other dirt. The sand dust particles were sprayed in the air in front of a fan which blows
the particles in the air around the modules. At the beginning of the measurements,
both modules were cleaned completely from any dust or dirt. The procedure was to
insure that particles could cover the whole area of the modules and distributed evenly
on the top of them as well as on the top of the glass samples. The procedure was
successful due to the well distribution of sand dust particles on the top of modules and
glass samples. One of the modules was cleaned while the other kept dusty and one of
the glass samples was taken and the weight of the sand dust on it was measured using
very sensitive scale. The weight of the glass sample with sand dust particles deposited
on it was measured first, then the glass sample weight was measured again when it
was cleaned from the dust. Thus, the amount of sand dust particles accumulated on
the module surface is the difference between the two weights.

The I-V characteristics curves of both clean and dusty modules were measured
simultaneously using the x-y recorder and plotted on the same graph chart. The
difference in the I-V characteristics between the two modules was calculated and
related to the amount of the sand dust particles accumulated on the photovoltaic
modules surface per unit area (m2). The same procedure was repeated with different
time of exposure , i.e. when more and more sand dust particles accumulate on the
dusty module. A correlation was found between the amount of sand dust particles
accumulated on the photovoltaic module per unit area and the reduction in the module
efficiency.
3. ATTENUATION OF DIRECT BEAM RADIATION

The expected degradation in photovoltaic efficiency is attributed mainly to the

attenuation of direct beam radiation resulting from sand dust particles. In this
situation, due to dust accumulation less solar radiation will reach the solar cells inside
the modules leading to a decrease in the efficiency of the modules. Small particles
that are illuminated by a beam of light will scatter and absorb some of that light which
decreases the intensity of the beam light. The above mentioned process is called
extinction. The scattering of dust particles is governed by the ratio of the particle size
to the wavelength of the incident radiation. This ratio () is called the size parameter
and is given by :

d
=
! (1)

where (d) is the particle diameter, and () is the wavelength of the incident radiation.
The extinction of light produced by a particle is a function of the particle extinction
efficiency (Qe). This extinction efficiency is defined by Hinds [19] as :

Power scattered and absorbed by a particle

Qe =
! Power geometrically incident on the particle (2)

Since the particles size are very small compared to the incident wavelength ( < 0.3 ),
then the particle extinction efficiency (Qe) follows Rayleigh scattering and can be
expressed as :

2
8 4 n2 1
Qe = 2
3 n + 2
! (3)

where n is the refractive index of the sand particles. The particle extinction efficiency
in this case is much less than unity and the scattering is very sensitive to the
wavelength, where it decreases rapidly with the increase of wavelength or with the
decrease of particle size. On the other hand, for larger particles ( > 0.3 ) or when the
particle diameter is larger than 0.05 m at =0.52 m, the particle extinction
efficiency (Qe) is more complicated and it follows the Mie scattering. For transparent
particles, with refractive index such as 1.5 and 1.33, Qe oscillates between the
maximum and minimum values, where the minimum is close to a value of 2.0, while
the maximum values increase with refractive index. As particles become larger and
larger (>12 or particle diameter is larger than 2 m at =0.52 m), Qe approaches
with oscillations its limiting value of 2.0. In this case, it can be considered that all the
geometrically incident power (light) to be scattered by reflection and refraction or
partially absorbed within the particle, and an equal amount of light from the
surrounding beam to be scattered by diffraction when the extinction is observed at a
long distance from the particle [19]. For particles of perfect absorbing material, such
as carbon with refractive index n ranges from 1.59 to 1.66, there is no scattered
component by refraction, thus Qe rises more steeply from the origin and settles to the
value 2.0 without oscillations. In this case, all the geometrically incident light is
absorbed by the particle and an equal amount of light is diffracted. For perfectly
reflecting particles, the extinction curve is similar to the absorbing material curve.
Therefore, when the particle is very large compared to the wavelength, the
particle scattering efficiency will not be affected by the change in the wavelength or it
is not any more sensitive to the wavelength. At these large particles, made of opaque
material, Qe is constant and the particle removes from a light beam an amount of light
equal to its projected area when the diffracted light can reach the detector or equal to
twice of its projected area when the diffracted light can not reach the detector which is
very far from the particle compared to its diameter [19].

For the photovoltaic effect, wavelengths of the visible light are considered. In the
present study, the size of the sand dust particles was estimated to be about 6.4m, i.e.
larger than 3 m. Therefore, the sand dust particles are considered to be very large
compared with the incident light wavelength and these particles are assumed to be
opaque to the incident light. Consequently, all of the incident light that intercepts the
cross-sectional area of the particles will be blocked, where some of it will be diffusely
reflected and the rest will be absorbed by the particles. So, for a certain number N of
particles of sand dust, settled beside each other on the glass surface, they will cover an
area equal to Nr2. The particles are assumed to be spherical with mean diameter d ,
and density which is equal to 2.65 g/cm3 for sand dust particles. Following the
procedure explained in detail in Al-Hasan [18] , the total number of particles (N) per
unit area (m2) is given by :

M
N= 3
4 d

! 3 2 (4)

where M is the mass of the particles occupying the unit area. Consequently, these
particles would cover an area (A) which can be expressed as :

1.5 M
A=
! d (5)

Equation (5) implies that for a given mass (M) of sand particles, the smaller particles
cover more area than the larger ones. On the other hand, for a given number of
particles (N), larger particles cover more total area (Nr2) than smaller ones. The
above discussion for normal incidence angle. For incident angles () different from
zero, the area covered by the particles in that case is given by :


M 1
2 90 -
A() = r + tan
4 3 90 - 2
r
3 tan 2
! (6)

From the above equations, it is obvious that sand dust particles remove a cross-
sectional area of light from normal beam which is equal to the particle projected area
times its extinction efficiency, consequently this leads to a degradation in photovoltaic
module efficiency.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Figure 1 shows a comparison between I-V characteristics for both clean and dusty
photovoltaic modules for a sample of measurements. As predicted from the figure, the
open circuit voltage for both clean and dusty modules are approximately the same for
the two modules. On the other hand, the short circuit current and consequently the
maximum output power decrease significantly for the dusty module. The reduction in
short circuit current for this sample is about 40% while it is approximately 34% in the
maximum output power. The reduction in both short circuit current and the maximum
output power is attributed to the decrease in transmittance for dusty module.

To illustrate the effect of the amount of sand dust particles on the module
performance, the I-V characteristics of the dirt module are measured at different dust
accumulations. The results of these measurements are presented in Figure 2. As seen
from the figure, again the open circuit voltage is not sensitive to the amount of sand
dust particles accumulated on the module surface. On the other hand, it is clear that
the short circuit current decreases as the dust accumulation increases. However, for
dust accumulation higher than approximately 1.5 g/m2 , the short circuit current starts
to decrease less sharply since at higher amounts of sand dust particles deposition,
particles tend to accumulate on top of each other rather than covering more areas of
the photovoltaic panel. Consequently, as predicted by the figure, this leads to less
decrease in short circuit current at higher amounts of sand dust particles
accumulation.

In addition, the study are carried out at different solar radiation intensity. It is found
that the short circuit current increases as the incident power increases for both clean
and dusty modules. As the incident power increases more, the difference between the
short circuit currents for both clean and dusty modules slightly decreases as the power
increases. The reason of this may be that the absorption capacity of a given amount of
dust to the incident energy is restricted as it depends on density, heat capacity, size,
and sand dust particles construction.
 The average geometric mean diameter of the dust particles in the present
experiments was estimated to be 6.4m, so from equation (4) it can be deduced that
the accumulation of 1.5 g/m2 corresponds to a number of particles equal to 4.1x109.
Substituting in equation (5), one can predict that a number of dust particles equal to
4.1x109 with a geometrical mean diameter of 6.4m will have a projected area of
0.133 m2. Assuming an isotropic distribution of the sand particles on the module
surface, this means that sand dust accumulation of 1.5 g/m2 covers about 31% of the
module surface area. Figure 2 implies that with further dust accumulation beyond
1.5 g/m2, the short circuit current decreases less steeply , i.e. it becomes less sensitive
to dust accumulation. It should be noted that the trends obtained in this study are
general one, i.e. site independent. However the above mentioned values may differ
from one site to another depending on the construction of sand dust particles in that
location.

Figure 3 shows the relation between the module normalized efficiency and the
amount of sand dust particles accumulated on its surface. The module normalized
efficiency is defined as the ratio between the efficiency of dusty and clean modules.
As shown from the figure, the efficiency decreases as the amount of sand dust
accumulated increases. This results indicate that the short circuit current is the
dominant factor on the efficiency of the photovoltaic module. However, the curve
starts to decrease less steeply for dust accumulation larger than 1.5 g/m2 (i.e. for
normalized efficiency less than 0.5). The curve pattern of the results found in the
present work agrees with the results predicted by Al-Hasan [18]. Again, it is predicted
that for the same amount of sand dust contamination, the lower solar radiation
intensity results in the greater reduction in the module efficiency.

The above degradation observed in module efficiency can also be attributed to the
fact that the sand particles scatter and absorb some of sunlight, which decreases the
intensity of sunlight. The incident light which intercepts the cross-sectional area of the
particles will be blocked, where some of it will be diffusely reflected and the rest will
be absorbed by the particles as they considered opaque. Therefore, part of the sunlight
does not reach the cells inside the modules. While at higher amounts of sand dust
particles accumulation, particles tend to accumulate on top of each other rather than
covering more panel area. So, as the amount of sand dust particles increases, a smaller
panel area is covered which leads to less decrease in photovoltaic efficiency with
higher amounts of sand dust particles accumulation. This can be considered as the
reason of the curve pattern after sand particles concentration of 1.5 g/m2 which
corresponds to a normalized efficiency lower than 0.5.

Referring to Figure 3, it is clear that the relation between the normalized efficiency
and the amount of dust accumulation is linear up to dust concentration of 1.5 g/m2.
These results indicate that the degradation in module efficiency is not sensitive to dust
accumulation for concentrations higher than 1.5 g/m2, so it is possible to obtain a
numerical correlation between the amount of sand dust accumulated and the
degradation in module efficiency by adding a straight line to the curve at the linear
relation period. A numerical relation can be found at this period and can be
considered as a factor of decrease in photovoltaic efficiency due to dust accumulation
on module surface. This factor of decrease (k) is the slope of the straight line and can
be defined as :

k=
! M (7)

where () is the decrease in the efficiency of photovoltaic module and (M) is the
increase in the amount of sand dust particles. As predicted from Figure 3, the factor of
efficiency decrease (k) is approximately equal to 0.33 for each 1 g/m2 of sand dust
concentration. Therefore, the expected decrease in efficiency of the photovoltaic
module with respect to sand dust accumulation effect will be :

= 0.33 M (8)

Using equation (8), photovoltaic system designer can predict the real efficiency of
photovoltaic modules with respect to the effect of sand dust particles once the amount
of this dust is known or measured. It should be mentioned that this relation is
predicted in Kuwait climate. However, this relation is site independent and for other
locations, the same trend and equation should be obtained. We believe that this work
is essential for photovoltaic systems designers to evaluate and predict the efficiency of
the photovoltaic systems under real weather conditions. Following the procedure
carried out in the present study, system designers can predict the degradation of the
efficiency due to sand dust accumulation. This work can greatly enhance the
accuracy of predicting photovoltaic system performance installed in desert and dusty
locations. Finally, it should be mentioned that this work does not discuss how or how
much sand dust particles accumulate on photovoltaic modules since these matters
depend on weather conditions of the site under investigation. So, it was not the
purpose of this work to investigate the factors that lead to the amount of sand dust
accumulation on the modules. This type of study could be the main subject of
investigation to researchers in other different fields.

5. CONCLUSIONS
 Dust accumulation greatly affects the performance of photovoltaic modules. This
problem is obvious in the dusty areas and places especially in the desert locations. A
relationship between the amount of sand dust particles accumulated on photovoltaic
module surface and the module characteristics has been presented in this work. In the
following, a summary of the main conclusions obtained from the present study :

The short circuit current and the maximum output power decrease significantly as
the amount of sand dust particles accumulated on module surface increases.
The reduction in short circuit current is about 40% while it is approximately 34%
in the maximum output power.
The short circuit current starts to decrease less sharply for dust accumulation
higher than approximately 1.5 g/m2 , since at higher amounts of sand dust,
particles tend to accumulate on top of each other rather than covering more areas
of the module.
The open circuit voltage is not sensitive to sand dust accumulation
The efficiency of photovoltaic modules degrades clearly with respect to sand dust
accumulation up to 1.5 g/m2.
As sand dust amounts deposited on module surface increase more and more, the
degradation decreases less steeply because the particles tend to accumulate over
each other.
A linear relation has been found to correlate the degradation in efficiency to the
amount of sand dust accumulated on module surface.
The decrease in photovoltaic module efficiency due to dust accumulation on
module surface is estimated to be approximately equal to 33% for each 1 g/m2 of
sand dust accumulation.

NOMENCLATURE
A area covered by sand particles (m2)
d sand particles diameter (m)
I current (A)
M mass of sand particles per unit area (g/m2)
n refractive index of sand particles (-)
N number of sand particles per unit area ( - )
Qe extinction efficiency of sand particles (-)
V voltage (volt)
size parameter defined by equation 1 (-)
photovoltaic module efficiency (-)
wavelength of incident radiation (m)
incidence angle (degree)
sand particle density (kg/m3)
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 5 30

_____ 1 Clean Module 1

_ _ _ _ 2 Dust =1.5 g/m 2
25
4

20

3 1 2
Current (A)

Power (W)
15

2
2
10

1
5

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

! Voltage (V)

Figure 1. Comparison between I-V characteristics for both clean

and dusty modules (Dust concentration = 1.5 g/m2)
 3.5

3 1

2.5 2
Current (A)

2
3

1.5
4

1
1 Clean Module
2 Dust Accumulation =0.75 g/m2
0.5 3 Dust Accumulation =1.50 g/m2
4 Dust Accumulation =4.50 g/m2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

! Voltage (V)

Figure 2. Variation of I-V characteristics at different dust concentration

 1

0.9

0.8

0.7
Normalized Efficiency

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
! Dust Accumulation ( g/m2 )

Figure 3. Variation of the normalized efficiency with dust accumulation