Evaluating the performance of PV modules in buildings (BIPV/BAPV) and the soiling effect in the UAE desert setting

Evaluating the performance of PV modules in buildings (BIPV/BAPV) and the soiling effect in the UAE desert setting

Edwin Rodriguez-Ubinas Mohamed Alantali Sarah Alzarouni Noura Alhammadi

 

DEWA R&D Center, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, UAE

Page: 
293-301
|
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.2495/EQ-V5-N4-293-301
Received: 
N/A
| |
Accepted: 
N/A
| | Citation

© 2020 IIETA. This article is published by IIETA and is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

OPEN ACCESS

Abstract: 

This paper assesses the performance of photovoltaic (PV) technologies integrated into buildings in the desert climate and the factors that affect energy yield. Cadmium telluride (CdTe) and standard mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules were installed facing south, in the three more common tilt angles used in the Building Applied Photovoltaics (BAPV) and Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) applications at the Dubai latitude (90°, 25°, and 0°). We monitored the energy production, the temperature of the PV modules, irradiance on each tilt angle, and the meteorological parameters for a full year. We then calculated the performance ratio for the six modules to evaluate the different factors, including temperature and soiling losses, following IEC 61724-1. The 25° modules, usual PV rooftop angle, had the highest and more consistent energy yield throughout the year. Conversely, the energy yield of the 90° modules, typical angle for facades, vertical shading devices, and guardrails, had the lowest yield and showed wide variations. This is expected as the 90° angle is more affected by the seasonal changes of the solar altitude. The soiling losses on these modules were lower than 1%. However, at 0°, the soiling loss was more evident, with an average reduction of 10.79%. The c-Si module at 25° generated the highest normalized energy yield of 402.02 kW h/m2, which was 23.5% more than that of CdTe module with the same tilt angle.

Keywords: 

BAPV, BIPV, building integrated, CdTe, c-Si, photovoltaics, soiling, tilt angle

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