Abstract
Field test data obtained from 2*100
W mono-crystalline photovoltaic solar modules installed on the rooftop
of WASCAL’s building on a tilted surface of 15º facing south and ambient
temperature measured around the modules were analyzed in detail.
In
addition to these field test data, the inclined global solar radiation
measured in CNES and the relative humidity data obtained from NASA power
website were also used. Then the impact of solar irradiation, ambient
temperature, dust accumulation, cloud cover, and relative humidity on
the performance of the mono-crystalline solar module had been
investigated under Niamey’s environment. The results obtained show that
the impacts of ambient temperature and dust accumulation are more
crucial for the study area. For the ambient temperature, the correlation
coefficient is estimated to -0.53 for both May and June and -0.28 and
-0.20 for July and August respectively. The slope between the conversion
efficiency and the ambient temperature is estimated to -0.49%/ºC
compare to -0.45%/ºC provided by the manufacturer under STC. This result
indicates that it is very important to consider the temperature
characteristics in developing solar cell.
For the dust
accumulation, results show that the average daily efficiency drop in
June due to dust accumulation is estimated to 0.18%/day corresponding to
an overall efficiency drop of 5.8%/month. This limitation makes solar
PV unreliable for remote devices and thus strongly suggests the
challenge of cleaning the module. However in July the effect is
insignificant due to less amount of dust in this month and regular
precipitation that washes the module. For the relative humidity and
cloud cover, the impacts are only noticeable in July and August.
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