Environmental Effects on the Performance of Silicon-Based Solar Panels: A Case Study Conducted in the Dhahran Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Energy demand and sustainable renewable energy resources are interrelated which led to the rational design and installation of the system in the appropriate region. It is crucial to comprehend how the environment affects the properties of these building blocks. Here in this work, we have extracted the elemental outputs of a Si-PV panel installed at an outdoor facility in the Dhahran area under different environmental conditions. A data logger collected maximum output power, output current and output voltage for the clean Si-PV from sunset to sunrise with a periodic interval. The outputs were correlated with regional environmental conditions such as temperature, wind speed, humidity and air pressure. On the other hand, dust accumulation on solar panels is considered as one of the worst environmental conditions for solar cell technologies. In the worst dust accumulation scenarios, the optical and topographic qualities of Si-PV panels are affected, which eventually has an impact on their Si-PV performances. To the extent, airborne dust and pollutants accumulated on the Si-PV panel absorb solar photons and directly transfer them as heat to the underneath building blocks of the Si-PV panels. A comprehensive study was carried out to understand the environmental effects on Si-PV exposed in outdoor facility in the Dhahran region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.