Reducing photovoltaic performance uncertainty through development of enhanced soiling measurement and modeling techniques

Abstract

In efforts to displace fossil fuels with a clean and sustainable alternative, Photovoltaic (PV) energy generation facilities have been scaled up from the megawatt to the gigawatt scale over the last years. This scale up has taken PV from a negligible part of the world’s energy supply to a critical component. As a critical component within a stable and reliable world energy infrastructure, PV performance and the associated uncertainties must be well understood. Decades of research efforts have focused on modelling PV performance as a function of irradiance and temperature, but only minimal focus has been given to understanding variation in PV performance due to the settling of pollution, dust, pollen, or other airborne particulate matter on the surface of PV panels. This Doctoral Thesis seeks to contribute to improve PV soiling measurements, the ability to extract relevant soiling metrics from PV production data, and enhanced soiling modelling techniques.