Characterization of PV Soiling Losses in Urban Mediterranean Environment
Abstract
The deposition of particles from different nature over the PV modules and its subsequent performance loss is named as soiling issue. Depending on the environmental prevailing conditions the soiling effect can be one of the major contributors to reduce the PV performance. The main objective of PVCastSOIL project is to improve the forecasting of PV performance by: 1) accurate forecasting of the POA irradiance and 2) incorporating proper characterization of soiling losses as a function of the environmental conditions. Focused on the second purpose an experimental facility is set up for monitoring simultaneously the soiling ratio, PV performance and meteorological associated parameters for both silicon and thin film technologies and for two different tilt angles.