Reduced output of photovoltaic modules due to different types of dust particles

Dust accumulation is one of the main contributing factors for the power loss of photovoltaic (PV) modules. Dust consists of small particles that float throughout the atmosphere. Types of dust are often overlooked. This study aimed to investigate the effect of different types of dust particles on PV performance. The dust particles investigated include carbon (C), iron oxide, manganese dioxide, calcium oxide and natural dust. The first part of this study focused on the effects of the different types of pollutants on the external load. The second part examined the PV performance at variable load. The results show that the carbon to have appears the worst reduction impact on PV performance with about 99.76% in the range of density of mass from 0 to 20.27 g/m(2) and 99.9% in the range of density of mass from 0 to 41 g/m(2) in the case of fixed load and variable load respectively. The lower results reported by natural dust about with 98.92% in the range of density of mass from 0 to 164.38 g/m(2), 80% in the range of density of mass 0 -123.28 g/m(2) for fixed and variable load respectively. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.