Evaluation of Soiling and Potential Mitigation Approaches on Photovoltaic Glass

Journal Article · Fri Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2018 · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2878286· OSTI ID:1484591

Einhorn, Asher ^[1]; Miller, David C. ^[1]; Simpson, Lin J. ^[1]; Moutinho, Helio R. ^[1]; To, Bobby ^[1]; Lanaghan, Clare L.  ^[1]; Muller, Matthew T ^[1]; Toth, Sarah ^[1]; John, Jim J. ^[2]; Warade, Sonali ^[3]; Kottantharayil, Anil ^[3]; Engtrakul, Chaiwat  ^[1]; Michrli, Leonardo ^[4]

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1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai (United Arab Emirates
3. Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Mumbai (India)
4. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

The natural soiling of photovoltaic cover glass has recently been shown to include both an inorganic and organic particulate matter. Under favorable growth conditions, the latter can lead to the growth of dense colonies of filamentous fungi, which potentially leads to measurable performance losses over time. Herein, we report on a field study where glass coupon samples were deployed in soiling-prone locations, which focused on Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Mumbai (India). For each site location, clear differences in the soiling were observed. The samples from Mumbai were contaminated with an abundance of filamentous fungi, whereas the samples from Dubai had primarily inorganic contamination. As a result, the effectiveness of soiling mitigation strategies, which include cleaning techniques and glass coatings, are discussed in detail.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
• Grant/Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1484591
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5900-71802
• Journal Information: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 2156-3381
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
anti-reflective
anti-soiling
biofouling
coating
cover glass
degradation
fungus
photovoltaic
soiling