Local Variability in PV Soiling Rate

Gostein, Michael; Passow, Kendra; Deceglie, Michael G.; Micheli, Leonardo; Stueve, Bill

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2018.8548049

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The study by Micheli et al 25 showed the possibility of estimating soiling using nearby data. But, in accordance with the conclusions of Gostein et al 18 as well, it also highlighted that the predictions tend to worsen if the data points employed for the estimation are located more than 50 km from the investigated site. This means that estimating soiling losses at a new PV site can still be challenging if no soiling or PV performance data are available within that distance.…”

Section: Soiling Loss From Environmental Parameterssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…These models are simple and effective, but require the knowledge of the rainfall pattern (which might not always be available) and consider a fixed soiling rate for the whole data series (determined by a least-square regression of the longest soiling period). NREL investigations have shown that the soiling rate can vary with months, seasons, and years, 17,18,19 leading to the requirement of new algorithms to better estimate soiling losses and soiling rates.…”

Section: Predicting Annualized Soiling Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Addressing Soiling: From Interface Chemistry to Practicality

Simpson

2020

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Section: Soiling Loss From Environmental Parameterssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Predicting Annualized Soiling Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing Soiling: From Interface Chemistry to Practicality

Simpson

2020

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“…Soiling stations have the advantage of directly measuring the impact of soiling on PV, but require careful maintenance to avoid significant measurement errors 8 . Novel sensors that require less maintenance and do not need a clean reference PV device are getting the attention of the market, and are based on the optical characterization of a soiled glass coupon 9,10 . Recently, a new procedure to estimate soiling losses using transmittance data has been validated through a one year study in the south of Spain 11 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling photovoltaic soiling losses through optical characterization

Smestad

Germer

Alrashidi

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The accumulation of soiling on photovoltaic (PV) modules affects PV systems worldwide. Soiling consists of mineral dust, soot particles, aerosols, pollen, fungi and/or other contaminants that deposit on the surface of PV modules. Soiling absorbs, scatters, and reflects a fraction of the incoming sunlight, reducing the intensity that reaches the active part of the solar cell. Here, we report on the comparison of naturally accumulated soiling on coupons of PV glass soiled at seven locations worldwide. The spectral hemispherical transmittance was measured. It was found that natural soiling disproportionately impacts the blue and ultraviolet (UV) portions of the spectrum compared to the visible and infrared (iR). Also, the general shape of the transmittance spectra was similar at all the studied sites and could adequately be described by a modified form of the Ångström turbidity equation. In addition, the distribution of particles sizes was found to follow the IEST-STD-CC 1246E cleanliness standard. The fractional coverage of the glass surface by particles could be determined directly or indirectly and, as expected, has a linear correlation with the transmittance. It thus becomes feasible to estimate the optical consequences of the soiling of pV modules from the particle size distribution and the cleanliness value. Soiling has a negative impact on the economic revenues of PV installations, not only because it reduces the amount of energy converted by the PV modules, but also because it introduces additional operating and maintenance costs and, at the same time, increases the uncertainty on the estimation of PV performance, leading to both higher financial risks and interest rates charged to plant developers. Power reductions greater than 50% have been reported in the literature because of soiling 1,2 ; it has been estimated that an average loss of 4% on the global annual energy yield of PV could cause losses in revenue on the order of 2 × 10 9 US$ annually 3. A careful monitoring of soiling is required to mitigate its effect 4. Soiling losses are generally quantified by using soiling stations. These systems are made of at least two PV devices, one of which is regularly cleaned while the other is left to soil naturally. By comparing the ratio of the electrical outputs of the two devices, it is possible to estimate the impact of soiling on the PV performance 5,6. The International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) metric to monitor and quantify the impact of soiling on PV modules is the soiling ratio, r s , which expresses the ratio of the electrical output of a soiled PV device to the output of the same device under clean conditions 7. Like the transmittance, a higher soiling ratio translates to less soiling deposited on the modules. A value of 1 indicates clean conditions, with no soiling. For a more detailed definition of r s , please refer to the Methodology section. The fractional loss of solar-generated power due to soiling is 1 − r s .

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“…Gostein et al (Gostein et al, 2014) showed differences in losses up to 3% among the strings of a PV system during a short soiling intense period. In following investigations, Gostein et al (Gostein et al, 2018b) analyzed the soiling rates measured by soiling stations distributed across two Californian PV sites. The authors found that the average soiling rates could vary by up to 2x within the same site ( Figure 10).…”

Section: Spatial Non-uniformitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within-site variability of average soiling rate in two different locations in California, USA, adapted from(Gostein et al, 2018b) ll OPEN ACCESS of some of the seasonal soiling causes, strengthens the need for an accurate and continuous soiling monitoring.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring photovoltaic soiling: assessment, challenges, and perspectives of current and potential strategies

et al. 2021

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Soiling is the process whereby dirt, dust, and organic/inorganic contaminants deposit on the surface of a photovoltaic (PV) module. It causes significant economic losses and can have a substantial impact on the expansion of photovoltaic technologies for energy generation. The first step to address soiling adequately is monitoring, as soiling mitigation has to be tailored to the specific conditions of each PV system and no universally valid strategy exists. The main focus of this study is to assess the current state of the art in soiling monitoring, in order to help the community better understand the needs and the challenges in this area. The potentials and the limitations of each monitoring method are discussed thoroughly in the paper, with the support of original experimental data. An estimation of the future soiling monitoring market trends is also presented, with a forecasted need for tens of thousands of new soiling monitors every year.

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Local Variability in PV Soiling Rate

Cited by 11 publications

References 7 publications

Addressing Soiling: From Interface Chemistry to Practicality

Addressing Soiling: From Interface Chemistry to Practicality

Modelling photovoltaic soiling losses through optical characterization

Monitoring photovoltaic soiling: assessment, challenges, and perspectives of current and potential strategies

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