Photovoltaic module performance and soiling analysis for field environment

In recent years, the photovoltaic conferences pay attention one important topics. The performance and reliability of photovoltaic module are operation in the field. The actual performance of the PV system is affected significantly by the accumulation of the dust on the surface of the PV module in the field. It is a important topic “How to define the cleaning cycles?” The dust detection system has been developed to monitor the impact of the dust on the PV module in real time in the field. In this study, we estimate the cleaning cycles from the dust detection system, and install the dust detection system in Jordan, Taiwan, and Thailand respectively. In the dry season, the energy loss of the PV module is more than 28% during four months in Jordan. It is requited to perform cleaning frequently for the PV system in Jordan. It rains frequently in Taiwan, and the PV system was installed in the roof of the building. The energy loss of the PV module is only 4%. This cleaning process can not obtain economic benefits of the cleaning process. The climate in Thailand is the same as in Taiwan, but the energy loss of photovoltaic module is 15% due to the location of the installation is near the underway infrastructure construction in February. We can clean the PV system in February.