1st International Conference on Electrical and Information Technologies ICEIT'2015
Real-Time Study on the Effect of Dust Accumulation
on Performance of Solar PV Panels in Malaysia
Shaharin A. Sulaiman
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
shaharin@petronas.com.my
Mohamad Nur Hidayat Mat
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
mohd.eddie91@gmail.com
Abstract- Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems is a proffUsmg
method of generating electrical power from renewable energy in
Malaysia. However, light obstruction on the solar panel due to dust
accumulation can significantly influence the performance and
efficiency of the system, and thus can affect the cash flow of the
system operators. Despite the problem, only little studies have been
conducted on the nature of dust accumulation on solar PV panels.
Many of the studies involved imitation of dust for in laboratory
tests, which could not assess the actual phenomenon. The main
objective of this work was to study the effect of dust accumulation
on the performance of solar PV panel in Malaysia. This work
would enable appropriate scheduling for cleaning of the panels.
The study was conducted on real-time basis on a building's roof.
Measurements of irradiation, power output and the corresponding
mass of dust collected were performed on hourly, daily, weekly and
monthly basis. It was found from the study that the system's
performance could drop by about 6% annually. On the
maintenance aspect, in order to sustain economical operation, the
cleaning interval should be every two months for industrial-scale
systems that produce a minimum of 100 MWhlday. The interval
would be shorter (i.e. one month) for smaller systems (residential).
Keywords- dust; photovoltaic; efficicency; maintenance
I.INTRODUCTION
Most of the electrical power generated around the world is
mainly derived from non-renewable energy sources, especially
fossil fuels. However, these resources are non-perishable and
would be depleted at some time in the future [1]. Therefore,
alternative sources of energy, which are renewable and
environmentally friendly, are required. Solar energy is a
promising clean energy sources of the future. Among the
advantages of solar energy are it is long lasting, can be used
almost anywhere and it provides cost effective solutions to
energy problems. According to the International Energy
Agency [2], the global energy consumption will increase by
978-1-4799-7479-5/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE
Fiseha M. Guangul
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
fiseha.guangul@petronas.com.my
Mohammed A. Bou-Rabee
PAAET, Department of Electrical Engineering,
College of Technological Studies,
Kuwait City, Kuwait
m.rabee@paaet.edu.kw
53% in 2030, with 70% of the growth coming from
developing countries.
In Malaysia, the application of green technology is seen as
one of the sensible solutions adopted by many countries in
overcoming issues pertaining to shortage in energy supply and
also the environment. It was reported that among all the
renewable energy sources, solar energy would be the most
prospective one in Malaysia [3-4]. The government has
promoted a variety of energy related policies and tried to
sustain the energy demand. In the Eight Malaysia Plan
Malaysian Government fixed a target of generating power
from renewable energy at 5% of the total energy mix in 2001-
2005, although the achievement was only around 1%. In 2006,
the target was maintained at 5% in a newer government plan,
but the response was not positive probably due to to the fact
that energy has been highly subsidized in the country [2]. In
one of the government's latest efforts, the public (individuals
or companies) can sell produced electrical power from
renewable energy sources to Distribution Licensees (DL) like
Tenaga National Berhad under the Feed-in Tariff (FiT)
scheme that is governed by an appointed agency [5]. Of those,
solar power has been the most popular system of choice for
various reasons.
Solar PV system is expensive and its life-span is limited to
about 25 years due to cracks in the glass, shattered glass and
corroded inter-cell tracks [6]. Hence, deterioration in the
efficiency of a solar PV panel throughout its life cycle is not
desired. A major reason for the drop of efficiency of solar PV
panels is the accumulation of dust on the panel. Other reasons
may include deposition of bird droppings and water-stains of
salt [7]. The nature of the problem may vary by geographical
locations. For example, in Malaysia the humid ambient
condition promotes growth of fungus and moss on the PV
panel. Such reduction in efficiency would make solar PV
systems unattractive to the market. Dust settlement, mainly
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relies on the dust properties which are chemical properties, A. Location ofExperiment
size, shape and weight as well as on the environmental Shown in Figure 1 are the experiment system, which were
conditions which are site-specific factors, environmental mounted on the roof of a building at a location about 200 km
features and weather conditions. The surface fmish of solar to the North of Kuala Lumpur. The ground elevation of the
panel, tilt angle, humidity and wind speed also affect the dust location was about 60 m above the sea level. The building's
accumulation on the surface [8]. height was approximately 40 m. In general, the site of study
There have been many studies that investigated the effect was surrounded by rainforest away from the city, and thus
of dust on solar cells. A wide range of reduction in dusts generated from human activities could be regarded as
perfonnance was reported, including the one in the United minimum.
States which recorded a 4.7 % degradation in collector's
perfonnance as a result of dust deposition [9]. In another work
throughout a 6-month period in Saudi Arabia, the degradation
was reported to be significantly higher; i.e. at 40% [10]. The
report was comparable to another work also in Saudi Arabia
which reported a 32% reduction for an eight-month study
period [6]. These imply serious degradation of performance in
solar PV performance in the desert, at which the energy
potential is one of the highest in the world. In a work in
Kuwait, the reduction in performance of solar panel varied
between 17% and 65%, depending on the tilt angle [1]. In a
different study in Egypt reductions in performance of up to
65.8% were reported for an exposure period of six
months [11]. In Thailand, an 11% reduction in transmittance
was reported in a one-month study [12]. Generally, all the
reported works only focused on degradation of solar panel J) Fig. 1 Experimental setup on the rooftop at the site of study

perfonnance over a period of time instead of quantifiying dust

accumulation on the panels.
The dust size also has significant impact on the
performance of the solar PV panel system. Mani and Pillai [7]
conducted an experiment that entirely used artificial dusts
namely limestone, cement and carbon particulates under
constant halogen lamps. They reported that the finest
particulates had the most deteriorating effect on the PV
efficiency as compared to the coarser ones. A similar study
was conducted using different sizes of artificial dusts (mud
and talcum) [13]. The results supported the findings by Mani
and Pillai on the effect of dust on perfonnance of PV systems.
In addition, the type of dust may also affect the performance
of PV power generation systems. For example, in a study [14]
on the influence of dirt accumulation of the performance of
PV panels it was found that moss reduced the power output by
about 70%. Out of their curiosity, the authors [14] discovered
that the presence of water droplets on solar panels had
insignificqant impact on the PV performance.
In the present work, the effect of dust accumulation on
perfonnance of solar PV system in Malaysia was studied. The
outcome of this work would enable optimum scheduling for
cleaning of the panels against dust. The study was conducted
on a building's roof based on actual dust accumulated from
the environment for a maximum period of three months .
I. METHODOLOGY
In the present study, important parameters related to the
deterioration of performance of solar PV were measured,
namely solar irradiation, electrical power output and mass of
the dust accumulated on the panels. A solarimeter and a power
meter, which were connected to a data logger, were the main
instruments used in the study.
B. Experimental Setup
Three mono-crystalline PV panels and three dummy glass
panels were used in the study. The PV modules were
connected to a Midi Data Logger while the glass panels had
solarimeters that comprised of a light dependant resistor
(LDR) probes underneath the surface; each was connected to
an Arduino microcontroller. The two sets of glass panels were
used for comparison of solar irradiation under clean and dirty
conditions on hourly, daily, weekly and monthly modes. The
clean panel was always cleaned at an interval of 5 minutes for
hourly mode, and 30 minutes on daily, weekly and monthly
modes. The dirty panels were cleaned at different time
intervals depending on the mode of tests.
Figure 2 shows schematic of the experimental setup. The
system consisted of six panels, which included three solar PV
panels (labeled as No. 1) and three dummy glass panels
(labeled as No. 2). Each panel was located side by side in
order to minimize differences in irradiation and amount of
dust accumulated. The solarimeters were located underneath
glass panels No. 3 and the power meter was used to measure
the electric power generated by PV panels No. 5. The
measured electrical power output and irradiation were
recorded by a computer No. 4, which was located in a shaded
area approximately 3 m away from the closest panels.
The collectors were mounted horizontally (0 tilting angle)
based on a report by Khatib et al. [15], with a consideration
that the study was conducted in the months of April to August
for maximum solar irradiation. The solar PV panels were
mounted one meter above the floor. Tempered glass was used
as the dummy panel since the upper layer of the commercial
solar cells was also made of tempered glass. The thickness of
the glass dununy panels was 6 mm.

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minimum on a short period basis for the environment chosen,

Fig. 2 Framework installation of solar PV panel system
C. Types ofMeasurements
In each experiment, the electrical power output and solar
irradiation were measured simultaneously. The clean panels
were used as a reference to determine performance drop of the
dusty panels. Five different tests were conducted; i.e. the
hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and three-month tests. In the
hourly test, measurements were taken throughout the day from
lOam to 6 pm, with the dusty panels cleaned hourly and the
the reference (clean) panels cleaned at every 5 minutes. The
procedures for conducting all the tests were the same as that
for the hourly test, except that the time interval for cleaning
though this may probably be different at sites such as
industrial area, sand desert and windy seaside.
A. Hourly Test
Figure 4 shows histogram of the final accumulation of
mass of dust and [mal reductions of output power and
irradiaton for the hourly tests. The reductions in output power
and irradiation were measured by differentiating the measured
final values obtained using the clean panel with those of the
dusty panel; these were applicable also to the daily, weekly,
monthly tests. The three tests show nearly the same results
although Test 1 displays the greatest reductions in output
power and irradiation. As anticipated, based on previous a
previous studies [13,14], the greater the amount of dust
collected, the greater were the reductions in output power and
irradiation due to obscuration of sun light by the dusts on the
panels. Overall, with an average accumulated dust of about
0.022 g per 0.01 m2, the average of drop in the electrical
power output was about 0.05 %. The average drop in
irradiation was about 0.01%.
0.1 0.028
_ Power c:::::::J Irradiation - Mass of Dust

was different. In the daily test, the panels were cleaned every 0.1
c 0.026
0
day, prior to the start of the next test. The same was applied .
.,
'"
'0 0.1
for the weekly and monthly tests.

0.024

o<! 0.1 :
II. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS lii t;;
0.022 ::l
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The results obtained from the experiment are presented <l. 0.0 .....
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. !: V>
in this section by hour, day, week, month and quarter (three 0.020 V>
c '"
0 0.0
months). It was observed that during the measurements that
B
::l
there was no rain or haze, which could significantly affect "0
., 0.0
0.018
'"
consistency of measurements that were repeated. Shown in
Figure 3 are typical variations of the electrical power output 0.0
0.016

and solar irradiation with time for the hourly test between
0.0 0.014
10.00 am and 6.00 pm. The graphs show results for the clean
2 3
panel (continuous lines) and the dusty panel (dashed lines).
Test

60 400
Fig. 4 Distribution of final accumulations of mass of dust and final reduction
of power and irradiaton for the hourly tests
350
50
B. Daily Test
300
40
NE
Shown in Figure 5 are distributions of the final
::l

250
accumulation of mass of dust and final reductions of output
&
::l i
0 power and irradiaton, which were measured on daily basis.
0
c
30 200
lii .
.,
;:: '" The average mass of dust accumulated for hourly test was
0
about 0.025 g per 0.01 m2. Consequently, the average
'0
<l. 150
20
-- Clean - Power 100 reduction in the electrical power output was about 0.5% and
10
----- Dirt - Power that for irradiation was about 0.4%. A similar trend of results
-- Clean - Irradiation 50
as that observed in the hourly tests are displayed in Figure 5,
----- Dirt - Irradiation
0 0 in which their differences are small. The reductions in output
10 11 12 13 power and irradiation are also shown to be directly
Time (hours) proportional with the amount of dust accumulated on the
panel.
Fig. 3 Typical variation of output electrical power and irradiation with time
C. Weekly Test
Generally, the measured output power and irradiation are Distributions of the final accumulation of mass of dust and
shown to be slightly lower than those obtained using the clean [mal reductions of output power and irradiaton on weekly
panel. The trends are the same for the two other hourly tests. basis are shown in Figure 6. The average mass of dust
Clearly, Figure 3 implies that dust accumulation was accumulated for hourly test was only about 0.03 g per 0.01 m2.

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 1st International Conference on Electrical and Information Technologies ICEIT'2015

With such an amount of dust collected on the panel, the 2.0 0.044

resulting average reduction in the electrical power output was _ Power c:::::J Irradiation -- Mass of Dust
1.8
about 1.1% and that for irradiation was about 0.9%. As c 0.042
0
expected, the reductions in output power and irradiation are ., 1.6
'"
'0
also shown to be directly proportional with the amount of dust
1.4 0.040

accumulated on the panel. o<! :

v 1.2 t;
0.038 :l
0.8 0.028

0 "0
1.0
_ Power c:::::J Irradiation -- Mass of Dust
a.
'0
.!:
c
0.036
0.8 ro
c
0.7 0
0 0.027 :2:
., B
'" :::>
0.6 0.034
.,
"0
'0 0.6
'"
0.026 0.4
o<! 0.5 : 0.032
v t;
:l 0.2

0 "0
0.4 0.025
a.
'0 0.0 0.030
.!:
c

ro 3
0 0.3 :2: Test
B 0.024
:::>

.,
"0

'" 0.2 Fig. 7 Distribution of final accumulations of mass of dust and final reduction
0.023 of power and irradiaton for the monthly tests
0.1

E. Overall Trend
0.0 0.022
1 2 3 Shown in Figure 8 is histogram for the average mass of
Test dust accumulated in the five types of tests using the 0.01 m2
panels. It is shown in the figure that the dust collection was
Fig. 5 Distribution of final accumulations of mass of dust and final reduction
of power and irradiaton for the daily tests
quick on the first day but then increased gradually until a few
months. The observation, which was consistent after three
tests, implied that the recently clean glass surface could retain
dust better than a dirty one. No clear reason could be proposed
1.4 0.034 on the ability of clean glass panel to accununulate dust at the
_ Power c:::::J Irradiation -- Mass of Dust fastest rate.

c 1.2
.0 0.05
., 0.032
'"
'0 0.042

1.0
0.04
o<! :
v 0.030 t;
0.8 :l 1;1 0.03

0 "0
..... ""
:J

0
a.

.!: V>
<;
0.6
c ro 0.02
V>
0.028
0
B
:2: ::1
:::>
0.4
., 0.01
"0

'"
0.026
0.2
0.00
Hou rly Daily Weekly Monthly 3 Months

0.0 0.024 Test

2 3
Fig. 8 Mass of dust accumulated for different test durations
Test

Fig. 6 Distribution of final accumulations of mass of dust and final reduction
of power and irradiaton for the weekly tests
D. Monthly Test
The distributions of results as measured on monthly basis
are shown in Figure 7. The average mass of dust accumulated
for hourly test was about 0.038 g per 0.01 m2 Consequently,
the average reduction in the electrical power output was about
1.5% and that for irradiation was about 1.2%. A similar trend
of results as that observed in Figures 4 to 6 are displayed in
Figure 7.
Figure 9 shows histogram for the reduction in electrical
power output as a result of dust accumulation for different test
durations. The histogram shows that the electrical power
output reduces slowly from hourly to three-month test. For
example, the average reduction for the three-month test is
0.85% (2.54% divided by two), which is lower as compared to
1.57% for the monthly test. Similarly, the average for 90 days
or three months would be 0.03% which is lower as compared
to 0.57% for the daily test. In short, the results show that the
rate of reduction in electrical power output reduces with time.

272
 1st International Conference on Electrical and Information Technologies ICEIT'2015

3 .0 ,-
---,
From Eq. (2), one would be able to predict for example the
2.5
2 . 54
amount of dust collected within a year or 365 days. In this

work, the amount of dust collected after a year would be
-5 2 .0 0.0484 g or 4.84 g/m2. This would enable the owner or
operator to schedule for cleaning of panels in ensuring
1.5
optimum power generation. The projection is made with the
o

1.0 assumption that the weather and other conditions affecting

a: 0. 5
dust accumulation are constant. More importantly, it must be
emphasized that the trend may be different for different
O.O +-- -
o.os geographical locations.
Hou rly Daily Weekly Monthly 3 Months
0.060
Test

Fig. 9 Reduction in electrical power output due to dust accumulation for

0.050
different test durations -
:
c:
0
F. Projection ofPerformance .., 0.040
'"
"S
The results in Figures 8 and 9 were analyzed on average E
:J

basis for better understanding of the trend of dust :::

'" 0.030
1;;
accumulation and deterioration of output power. This was :J
"0

done by obtaining day average for the weekly, monthly and 3- .,

"0
0.020
t
month measurements; e.g. the monthly data was divided by ., O 119
30. Shown in Figure 10 is the variation of average daily "e- mproj = 0.024 D .
o.
0.010
accumulation of dust with day, which was determined from
the daily, weekly, monthly and 3-month data. Also shown in
0.000
Figure 10 is the curve that fit the data points, for which power 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
curve fitting was used and given by:
Days

m
ave = 0 0247D-0881
(1) Fig. II Projected dust accumulation over days after cleaning of panel

where mave is the daily average of mass of dust collected on

the 0.01 m2 panel and D is the number of days from the start
of measurements with the panel cleaned. Figure 10 clearly 0.6

shows that the rate dust accumulation slows down with time -;;:
'" Daily
::!2.
and can be projected using Eqn. (1). 0.5
a;
:;: tl.Pave = O.5601D-o.677
0.030 0
0.
Daily
:J
0.4

-;;: B-
'" 0
:J

--
"0
0.025

1 .!:
mave= 0.0247 D-0.88
0.3
c:
"0 0

'" 0.020 "B
"S
:J
0.2
E .,
"0

:J
0:: Weekly
U .,
'"
u
0.015 ""


.,
0.1
Monthly
3-Month
:J

>
"0

2::
.;0 0.010
"0
., Weekly 0
""
'" 0 20 40 60 80 100
a;

>
0.005
Monthly Days
3-Month
--
-
0.000 Fig. 12 Variation of daily average reduction in output power with days
0 20 40 60 80 100
Days

Fig. 10 Variation of average daily dust accumulated with days

A projection of dust collection is shown in Figure 11 by

using curve fitting onto the actual mass of dust collected in
this study. The mass of dust shown is specific for the 0.01 m2
panel. The projected mass of duct is given by:

mproj = O.024Do119 (2)

273
 1st International Conference on Electrical and Information Technologies ICEIT'2015

4.0 [5] Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia

( SEDA),http://seda.gov.my/ accessed on 28 October 2014

a; 3.5
:;: [6] P. Green. " Solar Panel Performance: The Good, the Bad and
0
0.. the Ugly." Silcar Energy Solutions,Perth, Australia, 2012.
3.0
::l

B-
::l [7] M. Mani, and R. Pillai. "Impact of Dust on Solar Photovoltaic
0 2.5
.!: (PV) Performance: Research Status, Challenges and
c:
Recommendations " Journal of Renewable and Sustainable
'B
::l
2.0
Energy Reviews, 14,3124-3131,2010.
-c
QI
0:: 1.5 [8] J.K. Kaldellis, and M. KapsaJi, " Simulating the Dust Effect on
-c
the Energy Performance of Photovoltaic Generators Based on
QI 1.0
P proj 0.5601 DO.3235 Experimental Measurements." Energy,36,5154-5161,2011.
'e- =

o..

0.5 [9] H. Hottel, and B. Woertz, "Performance of Flat-Plate Solar

Heat Collectors." Transactions of the American Society of
0.0 Mechanical Engineers,64,1942.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
[10] S. Said, " Effect of Dust Accumulation on Performances of
Days
Thermal and PV Flat Plate Collectors," App!. Energy, 37, 73-
84,1990.
Fig. 13 Projected reduction in output ower over days after cleaning of panel
[11] A. Hassan, U. Rahoma, H. Elminir, A. Fathy, "Effect of
airborne dust concentration on the performance of PV
modules." Journal of the Astronomical Society of Egypt, 13,
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 24-38,2005.

The authors would like to express sincere gratitude to [12] G. Mastekbayeva, and S. Kumar, "Effect of Dust on the
Mr. Fahmi Ramely for providing constructive advices and Transmittance of Low Density Polyethylene Glazing in a
valuable assistance in the experimental work. Tropical Climate," Solar Energy,68,135-41,2000.

[13] S.A Sulaiman, H.H. Hussain, N.S.H.N Leh,. and

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