Alima Dajuma^1*, Saleye Yahaya², Siaka Touré³, Arona Diedhiou⁴, Rabani Adamou^1,5, Abdourahamane Konaré⁶, Mariama Sido², Michel Golba⁷

Show more
¹ WASCAL MRP Climate Change and Energy, Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger.
² Centre National d’Energie Solaire, CNES, Niamey, Niger.
³ Laboratoire d’Energie Solaire, Université Félix Houphouet Boigny, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
⁴ LTHE-IRD, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France.
⁵ Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger.
⁶ Centre d’Excellence Africain en Changement Climatique, Biodiversité et Agriculture Durable (CCBAD), Université Félix Houphouet Boigny, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
⁷ Energy and Semiconductor Research Laboratory, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
Show less

Abstract: Energy demand is increasing while we are facing a depletion of fossils fuels, the main source of energy production in the world. These last years, photovoltaic (PV) system technologies are growing rapidly among alternative sources of energy to contribute to mitigation of climate change. However, PV system efficiency researches operating under West African weather conditions are nascent. The first objective of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of common monocrystalline PV efficiency to local meteorological parameters (temperature, humidity, solar radiation) in two contrasted cities over West Africa: Niamey (Niger) in a Sahelian arid area and Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) in atropical humid area. The second objective is to quantify the effect of dust accumulation on PV efficiency in Niamey (Niger). The preliminary results show that PV efficiency is more sensitive to high temperature change especially under Niamey climate conditions (warmer than Abidjan) where high ambient temperatures above 33°C lead to an important decrease of PV efficiency. Increase of relative humidity induces a decrease of PV efficiency in both areas (Niamey and Abidjan). A power loss up to 12.46% is observed in Niamey after 21 days of dust accumulation.

Keywords: Solar Energy, PV Efficiency, Temperature, Dust, Humidity, Niamey, Abidjan

Cite this paper: Dajuma, A. , Yahaya, S. , Touré, S. , Diedhiou, A. , Adamou, R. , Konaré, A. , Sido, M. , Golba, M. (2016) Sensitivity of Solar Photovoltaic Panel Efficiency to Weather and Dust over West Africa: Comparative Experimental Study between Niamey (Niger) and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire). Computational Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, 5, 123-147. doi: 10.4236/cweee.2016.54012.

References

[1]   Archer, C.L. and Jacobson, M.Z. (2005) Evaluation of Global Wind Power. Journal Geophysical. Research, 110, Article ID: D12110.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2004jd005462

[2]   Mohamed, A.E. and. Zhengming, Z. (2013) MPPT Techniques for Photovoltaic Applications. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 25, 793-813.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.05.022

[3]   Mahmoud, M. and Ismail, N. (1990) Analytical and Graphical Methods for Determination of Solar Cell Parameters and Investigations of Shadowing Effect. International Journal of Solar Energy, 9, 179-192.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425919008941484

[4]   Archer, C.L. and Jacobson, M.Z. (2012) Saturation Wind Power Potential and Its Implications for Wind Energy. Proceeding of the National Academic Sciences, 109, 15679-15684.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1208993109

[5]   CNES (2015) Inventaire National des Installations à Energies Renouvelables, INIER-2014. Unpublished Study.

[6]   RECIPES (Renewable Energy in Emerging and Developing Countries) (2006) Country Report Niger, Specific Support Action. Brussels, 1-32.

[7]   Koua, B.K., Magloire, P., Kof, E., Gbaha, P. and Touré, S. (2015) Present Status and Overview of Potential of Renewable Energy in Cote d’ Ivoire. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 41, 907-914.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.09.010

[8]   Buresch, M. (1983) Photovoltaic Energy Systems Design and Installation. McGraw-Hill, New York.

[9]   Marwan, M.M. (2006) Transient Analysis of a PV Power Generator Charging a Capacitor for Measurement of the I-V Characteristics. Renewable Energy, 31, 2198-2206.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2005.09.019

[10]   Walker, G.R. (2001) Evaluating MPPT Topologies Using a Matlab PV Model. Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, 21, 49-56.

[11]   Pryor, T.L. and Carr, A.J. (2004) A Comparison of the Performance of Different PV Module Types in Temperate Climates. Solar Energy, 76, 285-294.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2003.07.026

[12]   Bashir, M.A., Ali, H.M., Ali, M. and Siddiqui, A.M. (2013) An Experimental Investigation of Performance of Photovoltaic Modules in Pakistan. Thermal Science, 19, 134.

[13]   Amin, N., Lung, C.W. and Sopian, K. (2009) A Practical Field Study of Various Solar Cells on Their Performance in Malaysia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 34, 1939- 1946.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2008.12.005

[14]   Fuentes, M., Nofuentes, G., Aguilera, J., Talaverda, D.L. and Castro, M. (2007) Application and Validation of Algebraic Methods to Predict the Behavior of Crystalline Silicon PV Modules in Mediterranean Climates. Solar Energy, 81, 1396-1408.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2006.12.008

[15]   Pantic, S.L., Pavlovic, M.T. and Milosavljevic, D.D. (2013) A Pratical Field Study of Performances of Solar. University of Nis, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, Department of Physics, Republic of Serbia, 16.

[16]   Jakhrani, A.Q., Othman, A.K. and Samo, S.R. (2011) Comparison of Solar Photovoltaic Module Temperature Models. World Applied Sciences Journal, 14, 1-8.

[17]   Perraki, V. and Tsolkas, G. (2013) Temperature Dependence on the Photovoltaic Properties of Selected Thin-Film Modules. International Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 4, 140-146.
http://dx.doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130204.12

[18]   Kurtz, S., Miller, D., Kempe, M., Bosco, M.N., Whitefield, J.K., Dhere, N. and Zgonena, T. (2009) Evaluation of High-Temperature Exposure of Photovoltaic Modules. 34th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Philadelphia, 7-12 June 2009, 1-9.

[19]   Tanagnostopoulo, Y. and Themelis, P. (2010) Natural Flow Air Cooled Photovoltaics. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1203, 1013-1018.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3322300

[20]   Garc?á, M.C.A. and. Balenzategui, J.L. (2004) Estimation of Photovoltaic Module Yearly Temperature and Performance Based on Nominal Operation Cell Temperature Calculations. Renewable Energy, 29, 1997-2010.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2004.03.010

[21]   Diaf, S., Notton, G., Belhamel, M. and Haddadi, M.L.A. (2008) Design and Techno-Eco- nomical Optimization for Hybrid PV/Wind System under Various Meteorological Conditions. Applied Energy, 85, 968-987.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2008.02.012

[22]   Mani, M. and Pillai, R. (2010) Impact of Dust on Photovoltaic (PV) Performance: Research Status, Challenges and Recommendations. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 14, 3124-3131.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2010.07.065

[23]   Mekhilef, S., Saidur, R. and Kamalisarvestani, M. (2012) Effect of Dust, Humidity and Air Velocity on Efficiency of Photovoltaic Cells. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16, 2920-2925.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2012.02.012

[24]   Kaldellis, J.K. and Kapsali, M. (2011) Simulating the Dust Effect on the Energy Performance of Photovoltaic Generators Based on Experimental Measurements. Energy, 36, 5154-5161.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2011.06.018

[25]   Hottel, H. and Woertz, B. (1942) Performance of Flat Plate Solar Heat Collectors. Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 64, 91-104.

[26]   Nimmo, B.A. and SAM, S. (1979) Effects of Dust on the Performance of Thermal and Photovoltaic Flat Plate Collectors in Saudi Arabia—Preliminary Results. Proceedings of the 2nd Miami International Conference on Alternative Energy Sources, Miami Beach, 10-12 December 1979, 223-225.

[27]   Sayigh, A.A.M., Al-Jandal, S. and Ahmed, H. (1985) Dust Effect on Solar Flat Surfaces Devices in Kuwait. Proceedings of the Workshop on the Physics of Non-Conventional Energy Sources and Materials Science for Energy, Trieste, 2-20 September 1985, 353-367.

[28]   Ghoneim, A.Y.A. and Al-Hasan, A. (2005) A New Correlation between Photovoltaic Panel’s Efficiency and Amount of Sand Dust Accumulated on Their Surface. International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 24, 187-197.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786450500291834

[29]   Monocrystalline Photovoltaic Euro solar OSP-15 W Made in Eusolar Co., Ltd.

[30]   Polycrystalline Photovoltaic Sunshine AP-PM 15 Made in Germany, Ref No. 015 1501 0420 0295 00045.

[31]   Hasan, M.A. and Sumathy, K. (2010) Photovoltaic Thermal Module Concepts and Their Performance Analysis—A Review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 14, 1845- 1859.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2010.03.011

[32]   King, D., Ratochvil, J.A. and Boyson, W.E. (1997) Measuring the Solar Spectral and Angle of Incidence Effects on Photovoltaic Modules and Solar Irradiance Sensors. Proceedings of the 26th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Anaheim, 29 September-3 October 1997, 1113-1116.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/pvsc.1997.654283

[33]   Makrides, G., Zinsser, B., Norton, M. and Georghiou, G.E. (2010) Performance of Photovoltaics under Actual Operating Conditions. In: Fthenakis, V., Ed., Third Generation Photovoltaics, InTech, 201-232.
http://www.intechopen.com

[34]   Bhattacharya, T., Chakraborty, A.K. and Pal, K. (2015) Statistical Analysis of the Performance of Solar Photovoltaic Module with the Influence of Different Meteorological Parameters in Tripura, India. International Journal of Engineering Research, 4, 137-140.
http://dx.doi.org/10.17950/ijer/v4s3/312

[35]   Tiwari, G.N. (2002) Solar Energy, Fundamentals, Design, Modelling and Applications. Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, 525.

[36]   Ugwuoke, P.E. and Okeke, C.E. (2012) Performance Assessment of Three Different PV Modules as a Function of Solar Insolation in South Eastern Nigeria. International Journal of Applied Science and Technology, 2, 319-327.

[37]   Lasnier, F. and Ang, T.G. (1990) Photovoltaic Engineering Handbook. 3rd Edition, CRC Press, Boca Raton.

[38]   Touati, F., Massoud, A., Hamad, J.A. and Saeed, S.A. (2013) Effects of Environmental and Climatic Conditions on PV Efficiency in Qatar. International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality (ICREPQ), Bilbao, 20-22 March 2013, 1-6.

[39]   Kazem, H.A., Chaichan, M.T., Al-Shezawi, I.M., Al-Saidi, H.S., Al-Rubkhi, H.S., Al-Sinani, K. and Al-Waeli, A.H.A. (2012) Effect of Humidity on the PV Performance in Oman. Asian Transactions on Engineering, 2, 29-32.

[40]   Gwandu, B. and Creasey, D.J. (1995) Humidity: A Factor in the Appropriate Positioning of a Photovoltaic Power Station. Renewable Energy, 6, 313-316.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0960-1481(95)00073-S

[41]   Omubo-Pepple, V.B., Tamunobereton-Ari, I. and Briggs-Kamara, M.A. (2013) Influence of Meteorological Parameters on the Efficiency of Photovoltaic Module in Some Cities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Asian Scientific Research, 3, 107-113.

[42]   Rodrigues, E.M.G., Melício, R., Mendes, V.M.F. and Catal?o, J.P.S. (2011) Simulation of a Solar Cell considering Single-Diode Equivalent Circuit Model. International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality, Spain, 13-15.
http://www.icrepq.com/icrepq'11/339-rodrigues.pdf