Dust and PV Performance in Nigeria: A review

The accumulation of dust on photovoltaic (PV) devices has an adverse impact by degrading their performance. In this work, a review of the effects of dust accumulation on PV module performance and measures to mitigate them have been provided. Energy losses from PV due to dust is an issue which cannot be ignored and can be an obstacle to achieving renewable energy targets in Nigeria. However, this paper presents a number of mitigation techniques which are available to maintain a certain level of performance. There is a need for further conduct comprehensive research on the effects of dust in all geopolitical regions in Nigeria to acquire data that can be used for designing the PV module system considering the most suitable technique in reducing or preventing the effects of soiling in each specific area.