Modeling of the Influence of Dust Soiling on Photovoltaic Panels for Desert Applications

Performance of photovoltaics (PVs) under desert conditions, such as Qatar's climate, is decreased with the soiling of PV panels during the dry season. This is due to the scarcity of important rainfalls, together with a dust soiling rate that is specifically high owing to the availability of dust aerosols (and their easy binding under such hot and humid climate). Using a computational approach to simulate deposited dust particles, the reported study mainly addresses the shading effects. In addition, we also investigate the influence on the heat dissipation of the soiled PV panel surface, since the modules are operated at hot temperatures during the dry season. In this study, the numerical approaches are designed based on the experimental results on dust soiling that are undertaken in-field at the Solar Test Facility, Doha, Qatar.