U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, United States; National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, Washington, DC 20001, United States.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, United States.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Feb 15;651(Pt 1):456-465. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.194. Epub 2018 Sep 17.
Deposition and accumulation of aerosol particles on photovoltaics (PV) panels, which is commonly referred to as "soiling of PV panels," impacts the performance of the PV energy system. It is desirable to estimate the soiling effect at different locations and times for modeling the PV system performance and devising cost-effective mitigation. This study presents an approach to estimate the soiling effect by utilizing particulate matter (PM) dry deposition estimates from air quality model simulations. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system used in this study was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) for air quality assessments, rule-making, and research. Three deposition estimates based on different surface roughness length parameters assumed in CMAQ were used to illustrate the soling effect in different land-use types. The results were analyzed for three locations in the U.S. for year 2011. One urban and one suburban location in Colorado were selected because there have been field measurements of particle deposition on solar panels and analysis on the consequent soiling effect performed at these locations. The third location is a coastal city in Texas, the City of Brownsville. These three locations have distinct ambient environments. CMAQ underestimates particle deposition by 40% to 80% when compared to the field measurements at the two sites in Colorado due to the underestimations in both the ambient PM concentration and deposition velocity. The estimated panel transmittance sensitivity due to the deposited particles is higher than the sensitivity obtained from the measurements in Colorado. The final soiling effect, which is transmittance loss, is estimated as 3.17 ± 4.20% for the Texas site, 0.45 ± 0.33%, and 0.31 ± 0.25% for the Colorado sites. Although the numbers are lower compared to the measurements in Colorado, the results are comparable with the soiling effects observed in U.S.
气溶胶颗粒在光伏（PV）电池板上的沉积和积累，通常称为“光伏电池板积尘”，会影响光伏能源系统的性能。为了对光伏系统性能进行建模和制定经济有效的缓解措施，有必要在不同地点和时间估算积尘的影响。本研究提出了一种利用空气质量模型模拟得到的颗粒物（PM）干沉积估算值来估算积尘影响的方法。本研究中使用的美国环保署（EPA）开发的社区多尺度空气质量（CMAQ）建模系统，用于空气质量评估、制定法规和研究。基于 CMAQ 中假设的三种不同表面粗糙度长度参数的三种沉积估算值，用于说明不同土地利用类型中的积尘影响。对美国三个地点 2011 年的数据进行了分析。科罗拉多州的一个城市和一个郊区地点被选中，是因为这些地方已经进行了太阳能电池板上颗粒物沉积的现场测量和对由此产生的积尘影响的分析。第三个地点是德克萨斯州的一个沿海城市布朗斯维尔。这三个地点的环境截然不同。与科罗拉多州两个地点的现场测量相比，CMAQ 对颗粒物沉积的低估幅度在 40%到 80%之间，这是由于环境中 PM 浓度和沉积速度的低估造成的。由于沉积颗粒引起的电池板透过率敏感性高于从科罗拉多州测量获得的敏感性。最终的积尘影响，即透过率损失，德克萨斯州站点估计为 3.17±4.20%，科罗拉多州两个站点分别为 0.45±0.33%和 0.31±0.25%。虽然与科罗拉多州的测量值相比，这些数字较低，但结果与美国观察到的积尘效应相当。
