Effects of Aging Factors on PV Modules Output Power: An Experimental Investigation

The importance of renewable energy is enormous in which solar energy plays a significant role. The power degradation rate of solar panels increases with time due to aging factors. The degradation rate of solar panels is mostly triggered by aging factors like dust, discoloration, delamination, and cracks. In this paper, an experimental investigation has been done for 8 years aged 30W and 10 years aged 40W PV modules considering dust, discoloration, delamination and crack. A comparative analysis of the performance parameters of the aged modules is performed with pre-clean and post-clean conditions. The results indicate that the output power of the aged modules becomes double after cleaning. In addition, the effect of different amounts of dust deposition on the PV outputs is analyzed by considering the output power, voltage, and current. Experimental results show that the PV output power degradation rate gradually increases with dust density.