Experimental study on the effect of dust particle deposition on photovoltaic performance of urban buildings

The output characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) modules can be negatively affected by the density of snowfall in winter and ash accumulation in summer. In order to solve this problem, an experimental platform for PV power generation with four angles of 0°, 30°, 45° and 60° was built in Shenbei New District, Shenyang City, China. The characteristics of ash accumulation on the surface of PV modules were studied and analyzed by SEM and XRD. The effects of snowfall, ash accumulation density and PV module angle on the output power and power attenuation rate of PV modules were investigated. The experimental results show that snowfall had both positive and negative effects on PV modules. The output power of the PV module decreases as the ash density increases. Based on the dust coverage density and tilt angle in the test data, empirical formulas are proposed to predict the average power reduction rate.