Effect of pollution and dust on PV performance

Photovoltaic or PV systems are one of the next generation's renewable energy sources for our world energy demand. It's a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity. When light shines on a PV cell, it may be reflected, absorbed, or pass right through. But only the absorbed light generates electricity. An electrical field is created near the top surface of the cell where these two materials are in contact. The PV system affected highly by the dust and pollutants accumulation on its surface as it reduces the solar light reaches the cell; as a result reduce the cell outcome. In this experimental work, three types of Iraqi construction materials (cement, plaster, and borax) were used as pollutants to evaluate their effect on the PV cell performance. The results reveal that borax has the lowest impact on the cell current while plaster has the maximum level. The output power and efficiency were influenced by these impacts and plaster ranked the minimum efficiency with about 25.8% reduction compared to clean cell.