Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power park: Prospects and challenges

Optimum yield of PV systems is primarily governed by installation parameters (altitude, tilt and orientation) and geographic location (solar insolation and latitude) of instillation site. However, current studies have shown that dust has significant influence on PV system performance (efficiency and output) and PV efficiency deficit due to dust can be up to 70%. Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (QASP) park is located in Bahawalpur, Punjab, is first large scale solar power generation project in Pakistan with capacity of 100MWp in first phase and additional 900MWp in next two phases. QASP Park is covered by desert of Cholistan. Climate of Bahawalpur is hot and dry with annual rainfall of 200-220 mm. The site of QASP Park is very complicated for solar power generation. This paper provides an appraisal on important climate factors of QASP Park and their impact on PV systems performance. Climate factors of prime important that will dictate performance of PV Systems in QASP Park, have been discussed in this paper.