Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Selection of optimal wavelengths for optical soiling modelling and detection in photovoltaic modules

Journal Article · · Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Univ. de Jaen (Spain)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Sol Ideas Technology Development, San Jose, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Soiling impacts the photovoltaic (PV) module performance by decreasing the amount of light reaching the photovoltaic cells and by changing their external spectral response. Currently, the soiling monitoring market is moving toward optical sensors that measure transmittance or reflectance, rather than directly measuring the impact of soiling on the performance of photovoltaic modules. These sensors, which use a single optical measurement, are not able to correct the soiling losses that depend on the solar irradiance spectra and on the spectral response of the monitored PV material. This work investigates methods that can improve the optical detection of soiling by extracting the full soiling spectrum profiles using only two or three monochromatic measurements. Spectral transmittance data, measured with a spectrophotometer and collected during a 46-week experimental soiling study carried out in Jaén, Spain, was analysed in this work. The use of a spectral profile for the hemispherical transmittance of soiled PV glass is found to significantly improve the soiling detection, returning the lowest errors independently of the PV materials and irradiance conditions. In addition, this work shows that it is also possible to select the measurement wavelengths to minimize the soiling loss detection error depending on the monitored PV semiconductor material (silicon, CdTe, a-Si, CIGS and a representative perovskite). The approaches discussed in this work are also found to be more robust to potential measurement errors compared to single wavelength measurement techniques.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST); European Union (EU); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1660000
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1778332
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-76711; MainId:9372; UUID:ca880a99-6d8d-4810-9d77-6dd612574578; MainAdminID:13750
Journal Information:
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Journal Name: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells Vol. 212; ISSN 0927-0248
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (15)

Spectral nature of soiling and its impact on multi-junction based concentrator systems journal October 2019
Development of an inexpensive handheld LED-based Sun photometer for the GLOBE program journal March 2001
On the Atmospheric Transmission of Sun Radiation and on Dust in the Air journal August 1929
Accurately measuring PV soiling losses with soiling station employing module power measurements
  • Gostein, Michael; Duster, Tim; Thuman, Christopher
  • 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/pvsc.2015.7355993
conference June 2015
Dust-induced shading on photovoltaic modules: Dust-induced shading on photovoltaic modules journal June 2012
Analysis of spectral effects on the energy yield of different PV (photovoltaic) technologies: The case of four specific sites journal April 2014
Correlating photovoltaic soiling losses to waveband and single-value transmittance measurements journal August 2019
Techno-Economic Assessment of Soiling Losses and Mitigation Strategies for Solar Power Generation journal October 2019
On the impact of solar spectral irradiance on the yield of different PV technologies journal January 2015
Effects of spectral coupling on perovskite solar cells under diverse climatic conditions journal February 2015
Quantification of the spectral coupling of atmosphere and photovoltaic system performance: Indexes, methods and impact on energy harvesting journal April 2017
Development of an inexpensive handheld LED-based Sun photometer for the GLOBE program journal March 2001
Modelling photovoltaic soiling losses through optical characterization journal January 2020
Study of Soiling Loss on Photovoltaic Modules With Artificially Deposited Dust of Different Gravimetric Densities and Compositions Collected From Different Locations in India journal January 2016
Extracting and Generating PV Soiling Profiles for Analysis, Forecasting, and Cleaning Optimization journal January 2020

Cited By (1)

Design, characterization and indoor validation of the optical soiling detector "DUSST" text January 2020

Similar Records

Correlating Photovoltaic Soiling Losses to Waveband and Single-Value Transmittance Measurements
Journal Article · Thu May 16 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Energy · OSTI ID:1529871
Design, characterization and indoor validation of the optical soiling detector “DUSST”
Journal Article · Thu Nov 05 19:00:00 EST 2020 · Solar Energy · OSTI ID:1726078
Directional response error in integrating-sphere transmittance measurements at solar wavelengths
Journal Article · Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995 · Solar Energy · OSTI ID:219849

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
dust
optical modelling
photovoltaic reliability
soiling
spectral losses