Influence of environmental factors on the power produced by photovoltaic panels artificially weathered

Solar energy is an important renewable energy source and a great option to mitigate the greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuels in electricity production. The common way to use solar energy is through photovoltaic technology. This technology converts solar photons into electricity. However, power production by photovoltaic panels (PV) is strongly related to environmental, manufactured, and maintenance factors. The present work analyzed the exposure of PV panels to environmental conditions at different stages in their lifetime (new, five, ten, 15 years, and 20 years). For this purpose, the PV panel was subjected to a simulated weathering process. A Generalized Linear Model (GLM) approach was used to evaluate the influence of environmental conditions (meteorological and air pollution) on power production, which follows a Binomial Negative distribution due to the overdispersion. The proposed method was performed in the tropical Andean during the winter season and in the presence of the El Nin similar to o Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Generally, the specific humidity and temperature were the meteorological significant covariates, while the PM2.5 was the air pollution significant covariate. Higher power production efficiencies were obtained in the presence of precipitation and wind velocity as significant covariates. The model evaluation had adequate criteria values, NSE between 0.76 and 0.96, and correlation coefficient between 0.87 and 0.98 using a new and weathered 15-year PV panel, respectively.

Automated summary

Solar energy is an important renewable energy source for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This study analyzed the performance of photovoltaic panels under different environmental conditions and found that temperature, humidity, and air pollution were significant factors. The proposed method showed relatively high accuracy in predicting power production.