Effect of dust accumulation on the transmissivity and performance of photovoltaic modules: A three-dimensional numerical study

Abstract

The efficiency of photovoltaic modules (PV-Ms) is mainly affected by dust accumulation and variations in solar irradiance. This three-dimensional numerical study, performed using COMSOL Multiphysics based on the finite element method (FEM), investigates the combined influence of these factors on the performance of PV modules. The analysis considers dust densities from 0 to 45 g/m² and irradiance levels between 100 and 900 W/m², with a wind speed of 1 m/s and an ambient temperature of 26°C. The results show that dust deposition slightly decreases the module temperature by about 0.5 % at low irradiance and 1.6 % at high irradiance, leading to small increases in electrical efficiency (EEF) of about 0.06%. However, solar irradiance remains the dominant parameter, significantly increasing the module temperature and reducing the EEF by approximately 13.4% for a clean module and 12.9% for a dust-covered module.