Abstract:

This paper experimentally investigates the performance of three photovoltaic modules (Monocrystalline back contact SP, Heterojunction HIT, and Polycrystalline Poly) in the Kuwait harsh climate conditions and their cost effectiveness. Dust particles from coastal and desert sites were optically characterised and results showed that for the same grain size (60, 80 and 100 microns) both the reflectivity and transmissivity were similar for both sites. As for the PV modules performance the effects of temperature which reaches 65oC on a July day and the dust accumulation over a period of 12 months were measured. Results show that the SP module is the most affected module by the dust with a drop of 53W while the poly is the least affected by the dust with a drop of 21W in the maximum power output. As for the cost effectiveness of these modules results showed that the poly PV module is more suited for the harsh Kuwaiti environment where the cost of 1 W is £1.89 for the poly compared to £2.13 for the SP and £2.21 for the HIT.

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