Effect of sand erosion of glass surface on performances of photovoltaic module

Abstract

It is very important to secure electric power and water for the improvement and progress in the life of people who lives in arid land. As we know, there are also abundant renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy in arid land. Electricity generated from renewable energy, such as photovoltaic and wind power, is supplied to water supply equipment (desalination, water pump, irrigation etc) and household. author’s has developed on the system for generating electric power and producing water based on renewable energy sources for sustainable from a couple of viewpoint, In case that photovoltaic (PV) module is installed in dusty environment, the degradation of performance of PV module is caused by sand dust accumulation and sand erosion on the glass surface of the panel. It is very important for maintain and life cycle of PV module to evaluate the degradation of PV module in sand dust environment. In this study, the experiment on the degradation of performance of PV module has been performed. The effects of sand dust accumulation and sand erosion on the transmittance of the glass surface were investigated by the indoor experiment. Moreover, the field experiment of sand dust deposition on PV module has been carried out in sand dune along seacoast located in the Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Japan. The sand dust deposition and attachment of salt on the PV modules were observed.