Solar energy usage is thriving day by day. These solar panels are installed to absorb solar energy and produce electrical energy. As a result, the efficiency of solar panels depends on different environmental factors, namely, air temperature, dust (aerosols and accumulated dust), and solar incidence, and photovoltaic panel angles. The effects of real conditions factors on power and efficiency of photovoltaic panels are studied in this paper through testing the panel in real environmental tests. To study the mentioned parameters precisely, two panels with different angles are used. The case study is regarding a region of Tehran, Iran, in summer and winter seasons. The results show that panel efficiency during winter is higher than summer due to air temperature decrement. It is discovered that among air pollutants, Al and Fe have the most share in polluting the air that affect the photovoltaic efficiency. Moreover, measuring the accumulated dust on the panels shows more amount in winter in comparison with summer. The important point in studying the effect of tilt angle is that inconformity between solar incidence and photovoltaic panel angles would result in solar radiation absorption and eventually panel efficiency loss and also, photovoltaic panel installation angle would affect the amount of dust deposited on its surface.

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The performance of electric vehicles and their abilities to reduce fossil fuel consumption and air pollution on one hand and the use of photovoltaic (PV) panels in energy production, on the other hand, has encouraged parking lot operators (PLO) to participate in the energy market to gain more profit. However, there are several challenges such as different technologies of photovoltaic panels that make the problem complex in terms of installation cost, efficiency, available output power and dependency on environmental temperature. Therefore, the aim of this study is to maximize the PLO’s operational profit under the time of use energy pricing scheme by investigating the effects of different PV panel technologies on energy production and finding the best strategy for optimal operation of PVs and electric vehicle (EV) parking lots which is achieved by means of market and EV owners’ interaction. For the accurate investigation, four different PV panel technologies are considered in different seasons, with significant differences in daylight times, in Helsinki, Finland.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to solve the optimal operation strategy problem of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) parking as a demand response (DR) program and hydro storage as an energy storage system in a smart grid environment using a heuristic algorithm. Design/methodology/approach Studying the smart grid with DR, renewable energy resources and energy storage systems is necessary. To do this, the heuristic optimization algorithm is developed to solve the scheduling problem. This deterministic algorithm benefits from the definition of appropriate fitness functions. Findings For validation, it is shown that reduction of 1.1%–12.5% in pollution and 8.8%–34.8% in total cost are achieved, as compared with literature. Also, the suggested operation strategy of PEVs parking and hydro storage results in reducing the total cost by 6.21%. Originality/value DR programs such as PEV parking play a major role in smart grid developments. Also, energy storage systems such as hydro storage lead to better performance of distributed generations and lower costs and pollution by thermal units. However, based on the literature, the effects of PEV parking and hydro storage on smart grid operation strategy are not considered. Therefore, contributions of this study are: effects of hydro storage on the smart grid are considered, effects of PEV parking on the smart grid are considered, a heuristic algorithm is developed to solve operation strategy problem for PEV parking and hydro storage in a smart grid environment.