The impact of calcium carbonate on the photovoltaic performance: An indoor experimental study

Studying the effect of dust on the performance of a photovoltaic (PV) module often needs a specialized device, such as a PV analyzer (I-V Curves Tracers). A system has been developed in this paper which involves a sun simulator, and consists of 23 tungsten lamps, which are controlled by a unit controlling the intensity of light using four levels manually (276.6 W/m², 553.3 W/m², 830 W/m² and 1106W/m²). Also, three levels that automatically regulate from low to high (0-500 Watt), from high to low (500-0 Watt) and from low to high and high to low level continuously for one minute. The developed system was used to investigate the effect of calcium carbonate on a PV module, as one of the pollutant types in dust; it was found that dust spread with different masses does not significantly vary the open circuit voltage system, whilst the short circuit current is affected by dust that was added to the surface of the module. The calcium carbonate has a clear and sizable effect on short circuit current and maximum power.