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Design, characterization and indoor validation of the optical soiling detector “DUSST”

Journal Article · · Solar Energy
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Jaen (Spain)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Nowadays, photovoltaic (PV) technology has reached a high level of maturity in terms of module efficiency and cost competitiveness in comparison with other energy technologies. As PV has achieved high levels of deployment, the development of devices that can help to reduce PV operation and maintenance costs has become a priority. Soiling can be cause of significant losses in certain PV plants and its detection has become essential to ensure a correct mitigation. For this reason, accurate and low-cost monitoring devices are needed. While soiling stations have been traditionally employed to measure the impact of soiling, their high cost and maintenance have led to the development of innovative low-cost optical sensors, such as the device presented in this work and named “DUSST” (Detector Unit for Soiling Spectral Transmittance). The thermal characterization of DUSST’s components and the methodology used to predict soiling transmittance losses are presented in this study. The results demonstrate that the losses can be predicted with an error lower than 1.4%. The method has been verified with an experimental campaign with naturally soiled coupons exposed outdoors in Jaén, Spain.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST); European Union (EU); Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities; 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:
1726078
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1776217
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5K00-78490; MainId:32407; UUID:c8fa0330-6e62-4a9c-8467-db1b4dbc4cd6; MainAdminID:18910
Journal Information:
Solar Energy, Journal Name: Solar Energy Vol. 211; ISSN 0038-092X
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
monitoring
reliability
sensor
soiling
thermal characterization
transmittance losses