Experimental investigation on the effect of real environmental factors on photovoltaic module power output in Southern Algeria

Photovoltaic (PV) panels currently available on the market have a maximum efficiency of about 22%, despite continuous development and considerable efforts to improve their performance. Since they are strongly affected by changing and uncontrollable environmental conditions; this paper therefore, aims to increase the reliability and utility of solar PV systems by examining the impact of these factors on their performance. The novelty of the present work lies in the investigation of a combination of real environmental factors and their impact on the power output of the solar modules in a hot, arid desert region. In addition, the study takes into account the formation period of some of these factors, which is relatively long (nearing a year in the case of rainwater infiltration and the accumulation of bird droppings). To achieve this objective, different outdoor experiments were carried out under arid climatic conditions in Ouargla region, southeast Algeria, where the performance of a number of PV panels was evaluated under the influence of rainwater infiltration, real partial shading, and bird droppings. Subsequently, the power output of each panel was compared to determine the impact of these factors on the energy conversion efficiency. The obtained results show that the daily power loss percentage reached 63.5%, 27.6%, and 20.53% for rainwater infiltration, real partial shading, and bird droppings, respectively. The findings could provide valuable insights for researchers to propose cost-effective solutions to mitigate the impact of these factors on PV system performance.