Ambient airborne particle concentration and soiling of PV cover plates

Soiling of PV panels can be a significant source of energy loss in a system, however prediction of these losses is still in its infancy. In this study ambient concentrations of particulate matter (PM) smaller than 10μm in diameter are collected at the same time as naturally accumulated dust on PV cover plates. Results show that PM₁₀ is related to the mass of dust accumulated on a PV cover plate, with deposition velocity values in the range of 5 - 0.5 cm/sec. This result, along with previous work, will allow for more site-specific predictions of soiling, and energy loss.