Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942

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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/seta

Review article

Management of potential challenges of PV technology proliferation

Abdul Hai Alami a, Malek Kamal Hussien Rabaia a, Enas Taha Sayed b, c, Mohamad Ramadan d, e,
Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem a, b, c, Shamma Alasad a, Abdul-Ghani Olabi a, b, f
a
Dept. of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
b
Center for Advanced Materials Research, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
c
Chemical Engineering Department, Minia University, Egypt
d
International University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
e
Lebanese International University, Bekaa, Lebanon
f
Mechanical Engineering and Design, Aston University, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Solar photovoltaic technology is a key renewable energy division that has proven effective especially in high
Solar PV solar irradiance regions. However, there the technology faces various operational and technical challenges. This
Shading work reviews and discusses recent innovations and research work done on the effect of solar radiation fluctu­
Soiling
ation, shading, soiling, weather, among others on solar panel performance. For example, recent shading-specific
Dust deposition
solutions and mitigation techniques are discussed and compared, then classified under topology, active systems,
Module temperature
Humidity passive devices under different solar array configurations. A comprehensive and comparative review was con­
ducted for several coating and cooling solutions for temperature control of PV modules. This is also coupled with
a coverage of soiling and dust deposition challenges as well as effects of shading caused by dust, its effect on the
increase in module temperature, and the cleaning difficulty introduced by having high humidity that magnify the
effect of soiling. A comparative review of is presented on technologies to mitigate soiling effects through different
cleaning, coating, and shielding methods, which can solve several problems.

Introduction
Maintaing an electrical power generation threshold that would
reliably supply the ever increasing global population has been a major
challenge for the past few decades. With the increased digitalization of
lifestyles and businesses, there has been an exponential rise in the de­
mand with few options of supply technologies that would be sustainable,
environmentally friendly as well as econimic. Severe environmental
problems threatening life on Earth with the persistence in using con­
ventional energy technologies such as fossil fuels-, coal-, and gas-
powered plants. Thus, urgent solutions must be considered to mitigate
the adverse effects of energy conversion on the environment [1].
Renewable energy systems are currently hailed as clean and effective
solutions and their utilization has increased in the last decade in terms of
research and development, and commercializing investments world­
wide [2-4]. This has been especially true after signing the worldwide
carbon reduction agreement (Paris Agreement) in 2015 [5]. The Inter­
national Renewable Energy Agency statistical report of 2019 has
included renewable energies witnessing a 7.4% growth in installed
capacity with a net capacity increase of 176 GW in 2019, out of which
54% being installed in Asia alone, with 90% of it being new capacities of
solar and wind energies [6,7]. Renewable energies are dominating new
power installations at about 70% of total istalled capacity in 2019 [8,9].
However, in their 2017 Climate-Safe Energy Solutions report [10], the
International Renewable Energy Agency stated that in order to suc­
cessfully reach a complete decarbonization of energy use in the next 50
years, the current growing rate of renewable energy systems needs to be
at least seven times faster [10].
When comparing renewable energy technologies and their global
adoption, solar-powered systems and especially solar PV systems are the
most rapidly growing. It was reported that solar systems had a 98 GW
overall capacity growth in 2019 which equals to 60% of other renewable
ones [6,7]. Fig. 1 shows the solar PV’s exponential capacity growth over
the last decade [11].
Such huge interest and fast development of solar PV technology re­
quires further technical development through addressing and solving
the many challenges that faces their reliable commercialization [12].
The most mature and commonly used PV panels for utility and non-

E-mail address: aalalami@sharjah.ac.ae (A.H. Alami).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2021.101942
Received 9 September 2021; Received in revised form 23 December 2021; Accepted 23 December 2021
Available online 31 December 2021
2213-1388/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A.H. Alami et al.
utility scale are silicon-based mono-crystalline and poly-crystalline
modules, as well as thin film technologies based on non-silicon mate­
rials. The current commercial efficiencies of PV modules are in the range
of 15% to 23% [13] depending on the manufacturer, materials, tech­
nology type, location, and manufacturing techniques. Several research
groups [14-16] have studied and reported on such challenges that relate
to efficiency perturbations due to soiling and high operating tempera­
tures [17,18 15]. These results have various global scenarios depending
on the location of the study but were able to give specific solutions and
algorithms for better maximum power point increasing and tracking
techniques [18-20]. For example, some research groups studied micro-
scale electrical interactions through testing diode configurations on
different utilizations and designs [14]. While others studied the best
possibilities of hybridizing several technologies such as wind and
hydrogen in order to solve problems like humidity and temperature
increase [21,22] In order to understand and appreciate these challenges,
the results of previous studies and experiments on the solutions and
optimizations for photovoltaic operational challenges are discussed in
detail in this work. Many present innovative solutions addressing
location-specific and technology-specific scenarios and comparisons,
but all with lessons and results that are important for a better under­
standing of the basic, shared challenges [23]. This paper also reviews the
most recent literature that provide current state-of-art regarding the
operational challenges and problems that faces solar photovoltaic sys­
tems. These include effects of shading, dust or dirt masses, humidity, and
temperature increase, on efficiency of commercial solar PV modules.
This work also provides and compares between the best and most recent
possible solution for each case [24]. The efficiency of solar modules is
calculated assuming operation is at the maximum power point or MPP,
thus, ideally, solar PV modules must be always working at that point to
avoid lower actual efficiencies and lower outputs. The maximum power
point depends on the amount of incident direct irradiance throughout
the day and the age of the solar panel. The manufacturing characteristics
which are the highest reachable ones are defined to be at certain con­
ditions called Standard Test Conditions or STC and they require a
module or cell temperature of 25 ◦ C, irradiance of 1000 W/m2, and an
Air Mass of 1.5 spectrum. Therefore, any deviation from these conditions
will cause the performance of the solar module to drop significantly.
Fig. 1. Installed capacity trends of solar PV systems throughout the last decade [11].
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
Operational challenges facing solar PV
Solar PV systems are complex, yet small and sensitive opto-electrical
devices converting solar radiation directly into electricity. Many adverse
factors affect the yield of such devices, and can be systematic and due to
manufacturing defects that cannot be controlled by operators as well as
the degradation of the solar cell and its maximum electrical character­
istics with time. Other major factors that have negative effects are
location and operating environment, although these can be controlled
but avoiding them is important to maintain a certain performance of the
solar PV system. This section will discuss several factors such as shading,
soiling, module temperature, and humidity, then summarize and
compare the most recent specific and general solutions.
Shading effect and variation of solar radiation
The performance of a PV module is highly dependent on the amount
of radiation it receives. Changes in the intensity of the solar radiation
will affect almost all the parameters including short circuit current, open
circuit voltage, produced power, fill factor, and of course the overall
efficiency [25,26]. While variation of radiation can lower the perfor­
mance if it was not at its peak, several types of shading can affect the
performance similarly and in many other different ways, as different
types, percentages, and reasons of shading cause different effects on the
performance and require different solutions. Shading is the major reason
of introducing the mismatching problem after the manufacturing errors,
it can lower the performance of certain parts or cells in the module that
causes a mismatch in the outputs of these parts with respect to the rest of
the module, thus, causing it to act like a load on the rest of the module
leading to a huge problem that destroys the PV module called the hot
spot as these parts that acted like a load will be under unbearable high
supply of energy that permanently burns them forcing a full replacement
of the solar panel, this huge problem requires fast addressing and proper
solutions as it can happen on large scales. Shading can be uniformly and
non-uniformly blocking the sunlight off from the solar module, and both
of them will affect the solar panel differently [27,28].
All shading types but especially the non-uniform ones cannot be left
without direct and immediate solutions to at least prevent the worse
from happening, thus, they are commonly solved or avoided through an
anti-parallel bypass diode, which for economic reasons is connected to a
substring in the solar panel instead of every solar cell. The Bypass Diode
A.H. Alami et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942

and its connection allows it to act like an open switch or open circuit in the percentage of shading.
the normal conditions of the solar cell and no shading is occurring, In their experimental study, Sathyanarayana et al. [32] studied
however, once shading happens over one cell or all the cells in that several cases of both uniform and nonuniform shading over a typical 36
substring and mismatching of produced current occurs then the bypass cells PV module of polycrystalline silicon. They tested three different
diode acts like a closed switch and bypasses the whole substring pre­ percentages of partial uniform shading (25%, 50%, and 75%) and
venting it from acting like a load. This solution is commonly imple­ concluded that the uniform shading does not affect the efficiency or the
mented in the manufacturing of the solar panels where bypass diodes are fill factor of the solar panel but lowers its power output respectively, in
connected to a string of 18–25 cells depending on the size of the panel. fact they got weirdly fluctuating but close values for the fill factor and
Although this solution has significantly improved the performance of slightly increasing efficiencies when increasing the partial uniform
solar panels under shading, the problem remains the same if the shading shading percentage. On the other hand, when they tested the nonuni­
occurs differently over several strings, additionally, the bypassing pro­ form shading caused by things like a leaf (9.06% shading), electric ca­
cess of a whole string is a huge loss of power which if happens on a larger bles (0.72%), building model (19.82%), and bird model (4.00%), they
scale will cause a non-negligible loss of money and output power. noticed a huge and significant drop in both of the efficiency and fill
Modeling wise, the produced current of a solar cell can be written as factor especially in the building and bird models which indicates that the
in Equation (1) below [29], while the overall leakage current due to the more weird and non-uniform the shape of the shading is the higher its
shading effect can be written as in Equation (2) [30]. Both formulas are effect on the performance even if the shading percentage was not as
used in power loss evaluation and are commonly automated in simu­ high. Fig. 2 displays and compares the I-V curves of the non-uniform
lating, designing, and manufacturing software. shading sources, not to mention that the leaf results are shown for a
[ ( ) ] single leaf which would severely change when the shading is caused by a
V + IRs
I = Iph − I0 exp − 1 − ISH (1) group of leaves, but the comparison focused on the factor of a single
mVT
geometrical shape rather than the numbers, the bird model is similarly
[ ( ( ) )] discussed.
V + IRs V + IRs − n
ISH = 1+A 1 − (2) Plenty of studies have been done to investigate, detect, and analyze
Rsh Vb
the different effects of shading on the performance of PV systems.
Kawamura et al. [33] performed a simulation of PV module with
Where I is the output current, Iph is the photo generated current which is
shaded cells. They studied the changes in I-V curves of the cells and any
also the short circuit current, I0 is the diode saturation current, V is the
output voltage, Rs represents the series resistance, Rsh is the shunt or power loss due to shading. They discussed the change in I-V character­
istics through shifting the Vb or the breakdown voltage of the cells under
parallel resistance, m is the diode’s ideality factor, and VT is the diode’s
( ) shading effect. They reported that the changes in I-V characteristics
thermal voltage which equals to KTqcell where K is the Boltzmann’s were very little.
Dolara et al. [34] and Mahammed et al. [35], experimented and
constant, Tcell is the temperature of the solar cell in K, and q is a single
studied the partial shading effects on mono-crystalline and poly-
electron charge. ISH represents the leakage current, A is the fraction of
crystalline silicon PV modules, and studied the changes in I-V and P-V
ohmic current involved in the breakdown voltage also known as the
curves proving that the corresponding values are significantly decreased
Bishop adjustment coefficient, Vb is the breakdown voltage, and n is
by increasing the shading ratio. Furthermore, Wang Y et al. [36],
another adjustment coefficient called the avalanche breakdown
investigated the shading effects on both flat and tilted roof-mounted PV
exponent.
modules during the brightest day where the results shown that the
Partial and full uniform shading can be caused by inter-row shading
performance, daily production, and the energy efficiency of the tilted
where solar modules tend to block sunlight away from each other when
roof-mounted PV module were more badly affected by shading than that
assembled and designed too close to each other, and percentage of light
of the flat module. Additionally, Kanters et al. [37], performed a para­
blocked or shading caused depends on the tilt angles, module length,
metric study examining technical and economic aspects of PV modules
and the inter-row space of the solar panels [26]. Deline et al. [31],
under mutual shading. They addressed the effect of inclination and row
presented and modeled an analytical approximation of the effect of the
distances where the experimental data showed that the efficiency of the
inter-row shading in large photovoltaics arrays using the system advisor
system increases with increasing the row distance above the 1 m mark.
model (SAM) program as they compared their model with previous
The revenue calculations of PV system installations were done using the
models and experiments to prove their model’s effectiveness. They
amount of energy saved and the received money through supplying
mainly compared the I-V curves and had a maximum error of 1% over
most of the simulation space while having 2% to 6% error for the typical
crystalline silicon modules [31]. Equations (3) and (4) below show the
formulas used for calculating the inter-row space in the design.
( π )
D = H × tan (90 − β) × (3)
180
H = LPV × sin(α) (4)Where D is the inter-row distance or space, H is
the vertical length or height of the solar PV module (opposite length
with respect to the tilt angle), LPV is the actual length of the module
(hypotenuse length with respect to the tilt angle), α is the tilt angle, and
β is the solar elevation angle.
While uniform shading is solved through proper and better design of
the PV arrays, nonuniform shading becomes challenging and harder to
mitigate depending on the environment’s weather and wildlife as the
reasons of the shading can be impossible to 100% prevent them and at
the same time they cause huge damage to the performance of the PV
panel regarding both the power output and the efficiency, unlike the
uniform shading which apparently does not affect the efficiency or the
fill factor of the solar panel but lowers the power produced depending on
Fig. 2. I-V curves of non-uniform sources of shading [32].

3
A.H. Alami et al.
electrical power to the grid. Rodrigo et al. [38], performed an experi­
mental work studying the effect of different shading conditions and
shading ratios on two high concentrator PV panels as they monitored the
variations of the obtained I-V curves. Their results showed that the root
mean squared errors were lower than 4% for the I-V curves.
Furthermore, several research groups have been developing and
comparing different passive and active solutions for the partial shading
problem over different setups and scales of solar PV systems. Picault
et al. [39], presented a novel method for predicting PV systems pro­
duction during different weathers and environmental conditions, it
simulates the PV arrays with flexible module interconnection arrange­
ments to reduce the mismatching losses and reduce the production losses
in general. Additionally, they experimented three different arrange­
ments (series–parallel (SP), total-cross tied (TCT), and the bridge-link
(BL) arrangements) on a 2.2 kWp power plant and succeeded in
raising the maximum output power by up to 4% with a precise fore­
casting of power production under normal conditions and partial
shading effects. In details, Sharma et al. [40], discussed several case
scenarios and problems caused by the partial shading effect on a solar PV
arrays while providing and presenting several solutions using the total-
cross tied (TCT) arrangement. Similar and more complicated solutions
have been proposed by Tabanjat et al. [41], presented a dynamical-
electrical array rearrangement method using a fuzzy logic estimator.
This method works on isolating and switching off the shaded, dusty, or/
and faulty panels while automatically modifying the electrical connec­
tion of the other healthy solar panels in order to maintain the same
requested output voltage for the load which will also limit losing further
power output. They proved their method’s feasibility and effectiveness
experimentally as it helped locating the unhealthy panel as well as
switching off the least number of panels through isolating the unhealthy
ones. Deshpande et al. [42], discussed the adaptive PV array reconfi­
guration method through module position changing and in­
terconnections switching. While the module position changing is hard to
implement and totally not feasible, interconnections reconfigurations is
possible by using high number of power electronics like microcontrollers
and switches. Many Different optimization techniques can be used, but
the researchers specifically chose to use the Ant colony system to pro­
vide optimum solutions for multi-shading problems, as well as requiring
lower computational efforts for solutions reconstructions when
compared to other optimization techniques [42]. On a smaller and a
single module scale, from a design point of view, Fei Lu et al. [43],
suggested that changing the layout of the wafers or the cells within the
PV module itself can help in minimizing partial shading effects and they
proposed two different complex configurations utilizing half wafers ar­
rangements, then compared them and their feasibility to the normal and
common configuration used nowadays. Simulations confirmed the
effectiveness and the noticeable improvement in the module’s overall
performance under partial shading, but the soldering issue will highly
increase when assembling the modules which decreases the possibility
of using such methods in utility scale and mass productions as the per­
centage of error and cost will significantly increase.
Shaiek et al. [44], studied the shading, solar radiation variation, and
temperature effect on the I-V and P-V characteristics of solar PV systems
in order to compare the conventional maximum power point tracking
methods to the genetic algorithm (GA) approach. They concluded that
the conventional Perturb and Observe algorithm (P&O) and the Incre­
mental of Conductance algorithm (IncCond), fail to get the global
maximum power point if the PV panels are partially shaded as they only
succeed in detecting the first maximum point encountered whether its
global or local regardless of the scenario. Though genetic algorithm (GA)
approach on the other hand, have succeeded to extract the global peak
or maximum power point at all times and under the same conditions that
forced the conventional algorithms to fail. Similarly, Manohar et al.
[45], presented an accurate alternative for the conventional tracking
methods which is a sine cosine optimization algorithm (SCA) with an
artificial neural network (ANN) based protection system. The proposed
4
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
system was proven to effectively track the global maximum power point
under both partial shading conditions and array faults while providing
the best protection to the PV-integrated microgrid against symmetrical
and unsymmetrical faults. Salem et al. [46], presented an artificial
neural networks (ANN) methodology to detect and assess normal and
partial shading conditions on PV arrays where one ANN agent detects
and distinguishes the partial shading from the change in environmental
conditions, then two other ANN agents will consequently determine the
shading factors and the number of shaded panels in the array. Mohamed
et al. [47], proposed four different optimization techniques, which are
Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO), Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization-
Gravitational Search Algorithm (PSO-GSA), Moth-Flame Optimization
(MFO), and Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA). They conducted simulations
and analysis using MATLAB/SIMULINK and then compared them to the
conventional Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique. Results
showed that the Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) technique was superior
among the rest regarding the speed of convergence and the time needed
to extract the global maximum power point (GMPP), while the Hybrid
Particle Swarm Optimization-Gravitational Search Algorithm (PSO-
GSA) technique have shown significant stability and tracking efficiency
in the sensitivity analysis. Behara et al. [48], proposed a modified sine
cosine algorithm (MSCA) technique and suggested adjusting the on-time
of the boost converter to reach the global maximum power point of a
grid-integrated PV system that is under partial shading conditions. They
compared their algorithm to six other techniques, including Genetic
Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Grey Wolf Opti­
mization (GWO), Moth-Flame Optimization (MFO), Sine Cosine Algo­
rithm (SCA), and the Perturb and Observe algorithm (P&O). Results
showed that the MSCA improved considerably compared to the con­
ventional SCA and performed better compared to the GWO and MFO,
whereas the P&O remains the least efficient. As an improvement for the
conventional tracking methods, Verma et al. [49], presented a new so­
lution for partially shaded solar PV panels using a global maximum
power point tracking algorithm based on asymmetrical interval type-2
fuzzy logic control (IT-2 AFLC) as a modification to the conventional
Perturb and Observe algorithm to eradicate its huge disadvantage of
tracking and fluctuating around the first encountered maximum point,
they also implemented several PV array configurations like the ser­
ies–parallel (SP), honey comb (HC), total-cross tied (TCT).
Thus, active solutions that include power electronics and maximum
power tracking methods are the most accurate and efficient methods
that provide proactive and automatic solutions leading to reduction of
power loss and highest maintenance of performance, but such solutions
are currently too expensive to be implemented in large and utility scale
projects which is where the production variation matters more than that
of the smaller scale projects, it also requires a lot of mechanical main­
tenance and continuous monitoring due to its complex systems and
connections. on the other hand, passive and simple solutions like bypass
diodes did not exhibit considerable improvements and huge differences
when compared to the other solutions, unless a single bypass diode per
solar cell is considered which is unfortunately unpractical due to its high
cost. Table 1 below discusses and compares the advantages and disad­
vantages of the previously mentioned shading solutions. Both of these
conclusions have led recent research to go further in the reconfiguration
field where both solutions are optimized financially and technically, as it
is more likely for manufacturers to adjust and change the interior design
and connections of the cells in a panel rather than implementing costly
diodes on each cell, or implement microcontrollers and switches that can
rearrange the interconnections between panels to perfectly locate,
isolate, and switch off the unhealthy panels while maintaining the
needed power through different connections.
Soiling effect
Soiling effect is the gathering of any dust, snow, dirt, and other
particles on the active surface of a PV device in different sizes and
A.H. Alami et al.
Table 1
Comparison between the common, recent, and most advanced shading mitigation techniques [39-50].
Solution type Description
Topology Designing and manufacturing alternative wafers
reconfigurations within a single PV module.
Passive elements Multiple Bypass Diodes per module.One Bypass Diode
per cell.
Active elements GMPPT algorithms and optimization systems: GA, SCA,
MSCA, GWO, PSO, hybrid PSO-GSA, P&O, IncCond,
MFO, SSA, ANN, and FLC systems.
PV array Shifting and changing the interconnections between
Reconfiguration the solar PV panels and arrays into different
configurations like:
• Series-Parallel (SP),
• Honeycomb (HC),
• Bridge Link (BL),
• Total-cross tied (TCT).
Using power electronics switches and microcontrollers
with optimization techniques like:
• Particle Swarm Optimization,
• Scanning algorithm,
• Best and Worth Sorting Algorithm,
• Rough set theory,
• irradiance equalization principle,
• Well-known subset sum problem,
• Ant colony optimization technique.
shapes. Such accumulation causes the formation of a thin screen or cover
over the solar cells decreasing or totally blocking the coming sun light
[51-53]. Thus, soiling falls under the shading category, as it mainly
blocks the solar radiation from reaching the solar cells and can have the
same dangerous mismatch and hot-spot effects on the solar PV system
except they are harder to deal with, require immediate cleaning or
removal, and can occur in a much larger scale at the same time over the
whole power plant due to environmental and wildlife reasons or desert
locations.
According to Maghami et al. [54], soiling effect or dust accumula­
tions have several types including soil/sand, clay, bacteria, and carbon,
they can be affected by several environmental factors such as wind
movements and directions, medium temperature, irradiations, air’s
pollution and pressure, dust/sand storms, volcano activities, snow fall,
and humidity. They also mentioned the location-related factors
including whether it is a sandy or an industrial area as well as the
longitude and the latitude of the site, installation factors have their ef­
fect in several ways as the orientation, tilt angle, height, and the glass
material will all determine the dust accumulation percentage over the
PV modules.
Different densities, sizes, and other physical properties of dust have
different impacts on the radiation received by the solar PV panel. El-
Shobokshy et al. [55], studied the effect of dust on the performance of
a concentrator PV cells. They addressed the relationship between the
dust accumulation density and the direct reduction in the performance
characteristics like the Isc, maximum power, cell temperature, and the
overall conversion efficiency. Later on, in their detailed dust effects
research [56], they studied the impact of different physical properties of
dust on the performance of solar PV cells mainly referring to the
maximum power and the radiation received reduction. They concluded
that dust particles with smaller size like engine exhaust particles (car­
bon) and cement, result in a much larger reduction in performance
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
Benefits Drawback
• High overall performance, • Complicated setups,
• Low maintenance, • Coupling issues,
• Low operational cost. • Soldering issues,
• High manufacturing/ capital cost.
• High performance when implemented as one diode • High cost when implemented as one
per cell, Diode per Cell,
• Low cost and relatively good performance under • Relatively low module performance
certain conditions when implemented as 1–3 diodes when implemented otherwise, (1–3
per module, diodes per module).
• Easy and non-complicated installation and
assessment,
• Low operational cost,
• Low maintenance required.
• Significantly high accuracy, • High capital cost for best performance,
• Considerable increase in overall performance, • High operational cost,
• Relatively good cost when using single axis tracking • Requires high mechanical
or conventional algorithms. maintenance,
• Requires continuous electrical and
logical/coding monitoring.
• Significantly high accuracy, • High capital cost,
• Significant increase in overall performance, • High operational cost,
• Ability to locate, isolate, and switch off the faulty or • Coupling issues,
shaded panels, • Requires electrical and logical
• Ability to completely avoid power loss and monitoring.
performance drop in case of shading through
rearranging and changing interconnections,
• Ability to maintain the required overall load voltage
even under shading effects,
• Relatively good cost when using simpler algorithms
and configurations.
(power and radiation) when compared to the larger dust particles like
limestone. While comparing the same type of dust particles, finer par­
ticles have higher potential of reducing the inter-particle gap and block
more sun light, thus, their impact is much greater than coarser particles.
Adıgüzel et al. [57], performed an experimental work in Aegean region,
Turkey. They studied the effect of dust particle size and weight on the
efficiency of poly-crystalline and mono-crystalline silicon solar PV
panels. They developed an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System
(ANFIS) model used for predicting such effects and estimate the effects
on the power produced. Additionally, they evaluated and compared the
model’s results with the experimental results (which were under stan­
dard testing conditions) through root mean square error and the coef­
ficient of determination and both indicated that the ANFIS model was
quite successful. Kale et al. [58], studied different shapes, lightness, and
densities of dust particles on the performance of a solar PV module
through conducting a synthetic experiment and simulating the I-V and P-
V characteristics. Andrea et al. [59], conducted an experimental study in
the tropical region of Arusha, Tanzania. They studied the effects of
accumulating different types of industrial dust like coal dust, aggregate
crusher dust, gypsum industry dust, and organic fertilizer industry dust
on a polycrystalline silicon PV module under three different values of
solar irradiances. They observed a maximum module efficiency loss of
64%, 42%, 30%, and 29% for the dust types, respectively, concluding
that the coal was the most harmful on the PV performance. Chanchangi
et al. [60], performed an indoor analytical experiment on the effect of 13
different samples of dust including wood dust, stone dust, sandy soil,
salt, loam soil, laterite, coarse sand, clay, charcoal, cement, carpet dust,
bird droppings, and ash through wet and dry depositing them on two
different PV surface materials which are acrylic plastic and low iron
glass. Results and comparisons have shown that dust particles can cause
a degradation of PV performance for up to 98% which was caused by the
charcoal dust, low iron glass PV surfaces accumulates loess dust than the
5
A.H. Alami et al.
acrylic plastic one, and dry deposition processes retains less particles on
surfaces when compared to wet deposition. Shi et al. [61], performed a
lab experimental work studying the effects of dust and sand under high
velocity on the performance of 330 crystalline PV modules manufac­
tured in the years between 2015 and 2019 and were provided by 53
different manufacturers in America, China, India, Japan, and other
countries, they also studied their effects on the performance bypass di­
odes. Their results proved and certified that the PV manufacturing in­
dustry is under consistent and continuous performance improvement
regarding sand and dust deposition effects especially under high wind
velocities [61]. While other research groups were trying to simply clean
the modules in order to decrease the negative effects of dust deposition,
Li et al. [62], proposed a new perspective that allows the solar PV
module to benefit from a light focusing effect caused by the deposition of
dust concluded by studying the optical and physical properties of the
dust and PV surface materials and their possible interactions. Through
their numerical results which proved that this effect could make the
solar radiation coming to the solar PV panel up to 10 times stronger, they
suggested a solar glass thickness reduction to 1.5 mm, and designing
special cladding structures to exploit such effect for assembling a more
efficient PV modules. Lu et al. [63], performed a numerical study of the
behavior of poly-dispersed dust and its effect on a roof-mounted solar PV
system, they used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to
simulate the scenarios for different dust particle sizes and various wind
velocities. The concluded that the particle sizes significantly affect the
deposition process as its rate has significantly increased with higher
wind velocities. The authors reported a maximum dust deposition rate of
11.45% at a wind velocity of 5 m/s.
Ghazi et al. [64], reviewed and investigated the dust distribution
pattern in several regions of the world concluding that the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA) region had the worst dusting and soiling zones
in the world. Sarver et al. [65], done a comprehensive and detailed re­
view paper that introduced the key contributions in almost seven de­
cades to the understanding of the dusting and soiling problems, their
effects on PV performance, and the possible mitigating techniques.
Different regions in the world have gained location-specific attention
regarding the dusting and soiling problems like America [66-73], Asia
[74-82], Middle East and North Africa [83-98], and Europe [74,99-102].
In the USA, most research projects were done with the participation
of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research
and development departments. Anagnostou et al. [66], tested the per­
formance of PV cells under hot-dry, hot-humid, sea-air, tropical rain
forests, urban industrial, and urban clean conditions for an up to 1 year
of exposure periods. Hoffman et al. [67], tested PV modules in the
laboratory for field-related problems such as encapsulate delaminating
and surface soiling or dusting. Additionally, later on in their other
research, Hoffman et al. [71], investigated the environmental variables
that could increase the dust accumulation effect through outdoor and
laboratory experiments, providing that the outdoor exposure for longer
durations in the most effective and accurate way for soiling evaluation
processes. They concluded several electrical and physical results that
very effectively drove the mitigating processes development regarding
materials and techniques even in the natural solutions. Forman et al.
[68], evaluated and discussed the physical and electrical changes that
occurred on a 25 kW PV module array for 18 months due to different
weathering and soiling effects. In their theoretical research [72],
Edward F. Cuddihy described postulated and known methods of soil
retention on PV surfaces. Ryan et al. [69], studied the degradation of
solar PV arrays due to dusting and soiling effects for 6 years and
concluded that dirty solar arrays degrade or have their performance
indicators reduce around 1.4% every year. Hammond et al. [70],
addressed and studied the effects on soiling and dusting including bird
droppings for periods of time from 16 months to 5 years, concluding
through their experimental results of power loss that soiling effect in­
creases with the increase of incident tilt angle. Olivares et al. [73],
investigated and evaluated the adverse impacts of dust accumulation
6
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
and soiling effects for four months on the performance of a PV system
installed in northern Chile providing the different dust sizes of the used
samples from the selected sites, and their results concluded and showed
an output reduction of about 55%.
Regarding ASIA’s research projects in this matter, Mani et al. [74],
addressed and discussed the literature on this matter after the year of
1960 providing the research status up to 2010 in several continents.
They identified the environmental factors affecting the PV systems along
with the challenges and finally suggested best techniques and ways for
cleaning for different climate zones and characteristics. Mekhilef et al.
[75], investigated the effect of dust particles like bacteria, fungi, pollens,
vehicular, and volcanic activity, as well as the effect of humidity and air
velocity on each other and on the performance of PV panels. Jiang et al.
[76], performed experimental work in China on the impact of airborne
dust deposition and their results showed that a soil accumulation layer
grew from 0 to 22 g/cm2 have caused a PV efficiency reduction from 0 to
26%. Pande et al. [77], studied the effects of dust, mud, and talcum
deposition on PV glass and its performance, recording an 18% peak
power reduction caused by dust and proving that mud and talcum both
affect the PV systems differently. Ju et al. [78], proposed three phases of
investigation which are planning, development, and operation phase in
order to study in details the effects of dust accumulation for a period of 1
year on the performance of PV panels in China and compared the results
taken in dry and rainy seasons which showed that there was a reduction
in performance of 0.95 and 0.98, respectively. Yerli et al. [79], studied
the performance of a 750 Wp PV system under the climatic conditions of
Istanbul, Turkey, and addressed the effects of dust, dirt, and tempera­
ture. Kobayashi et al. [80], performed experiments in Tokyo, Japan on
the effects of dirt adhesion on the surface of a small 11 W PV module
which contains 34 cells that were cut to 4 quarters each, each quarter
with a side of 103 mm. The results showed that an output power
reduction of 50% occurred when a 3% of the area was covered with dirt,
they also showed a good progress and improvement when different
shapes of cells were used. Ullah et al. [81], performed experimental
work on the effect of soiling and dust chemistry regarding the perfor­
mance of PV panels in Lahore, Pakistan. They found a soiling rate of
0.8% per day and a dust accumulation rate of 0.01 mg/cm2 per day for a
PV panel at a 30◦ tilt angle, they also compared the bi-facial to the mono-
facial PV panels and found that they have similar soiling rates, and
finally they suggested an optimum cleaning schedule of once and thrice
a week. Aritra Ghosh [102], addressed India’s poor air quality and
several factors affecting soiling losses or dust deposition, they recorded
that the dust particle’s nature, morphology, and size varies from loca­
tion to another and differently affects the solar PV performance, they
recorded that any increase in tilt angle, wind velocity, or heavy rain
showers will lower the dust deposition which contradicts with Lu et al.
[63] regarding the wind velocity point, which indicates that the wind
angle hitting the solar panels has a huge effect on the dust deposition as
it can decrease or increase the solar PV technologies’ performance.
Aritra also suggests further investigations and studies regarding the ef­
fect of dust deposition on the module temperature.
The MENA region is considered one of the first regions regarding
solar irradiance capabilities which attracts solar related projects, yet
they are also considered as one of the worse regions regarding dust
accumulation which is one of the biggest problems for solar projects,
therefore, massive work must be done and developed in this regard.
Salim et al. [83], studied the effects of long-term dusting and soiling on
an installed PV system of 24.6◦ tilted arrays near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
then compared its monthly reduction of energy with an identical clean
array of PV modules. At the end of eight months, the soiled array
reached a 32% of energy output reduction. Although the soiled arrays
were exposed to rainfall for four month of winter season, the energy
output improvement was less than 2%. Al- Addous et al. [84], performed
experimental work on the effect of dust accumulation on different PV
technologies in Jordan and proposed a soiling modeling and quantifying
method using an error equation called soiling loss index that compared
A.H. Alami et al.
the irradiance received between a dirty and a clean solar module, then
they performed economic analysis to determine the best cleaning in­
vestments return and cleaning schedules. Sahouane et al. [95] and
Memiche et al. [96], evaluated the energy efficiency and output power
loss of different PV systems under desertic environmental conditions for
different durations in the Algerian Sahara. Hachicha et al. [94], con­
ducted indoor and outdoor experimental investigations to characterize
dust samples and understand their effect on the electrical performance
of a solar PV modules with different tilt angles under the environmental
conditions of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The indoor experiments
showed a linear relationship between the dust density and the normalize
PV power with a decreasing slope of 1.7% per g/m2 which was sup­
ported and validated by the outdoor experiments, they also found that
the dust accumulation with respect to the clean module can be a func­
tion of the tilt angle as the tilt angles of 0◦ , 25◦ , and 45◦ , the dust
accumulation increases from 0 to 37.63%, 14.11%, and 10.95%,
respectively and separately. For a period of over 5 months, their outdoor
experiments revealed a 12.7% increase in soiling losses with a 5.44 g/m2
increase in dust density. Katsaounis et al. [97], proposed a device
simulator that can provide accurate prediction of the energy yield and
performance of solar PV modules through local climate data, solar ra­
diation spectrum, and temperature measurements. The simulation data
were validated through outdoor experimental measurements conducted
on several PV technologies under the weather conditions of the western
region of Saudi Arabia. Gholami et al. [103], provided a comprehensive
literature review regarding the weather conditions in Iran, potential PV
developments, and the effects of dusting on the performance of PV with
a focus on the origins of dust and its optical and physical properties, then
they conducted a review on possible solutions and cleaning methods.
Mitigation techniques
Several possible solutions and mitigation techniques have been
proposed and they can be classified and distributed as shown in Fig. 3.
While the natural and manual cleaning methods are obvious and easy to
implement or abuse, active cleaning and passive cleaning methods are
under constant research and development. The super hydrophobic sur­
face or plane method depends on a chemical layer that has special
properties like low wettability that allows it to repulse dust particles
because of the lotus effect, such property forces water droplets to never
stack on the surface of a PV module which assists in the cleaning process
and during rainfall. However, the Super hydrophilic surface or plane
method is the exact opposite of the hydrophobic one as it attracts water
instead of repelling it which allows different particles to slide over the
water and never get stuck on the surface of the panel. The electrostatic
shield method requires electrical supply and dry weather conditions, it
allows the screen covering the solar panel to generate electrostatic field
that repels most of the dust particles and prevents their deposition on the
surface [104].
AlDowsari et al. [106], provided a detailed review on different
Fig. 3. Mitigation Techniques [105].
7
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
mitigations and solutions regarding dusting problem on different parts
of the world backed up with experimental data and validations,
describing the complexity of the problem due to humidity, temperature,
and wind speed directly and indirectly enhancing or affecting it. They
defined and classified three different dust or soil layers that can be dealt
with differently with various challenges and respective methods:
A. Layer A, the most challenging layer and the base or primary one on
the glass or surface cover of the PV panel, it cannot be removed by
rainfall, normal washing, and/or adhesive tape. It can only be
cleaned off through abrasive and hard scrubbing.
B. Layer B, considered as a secondary type of layer which cannot be
removed by rain, but can be cleaned by washing and adhesive tape.
C. Layer C, the easiest layer and considered as the top surface layer and
can be removed by rain, and its depth is dependent on rain pattern so
whatever is not removed by rain is considered as layer C type of soil.
Additionally, AlDowsari et al. mentioned a number of requirements
and properties that needs to be taken into consideration when consid­
ering coating methods, including PV panel’s surface hardness or
smoothness, Hydrophobicity degree of the surface, Low-surface energy,
Assuring the surface is chemically clean of any sticky materials, and
chemically clean of any water-soluble salts or first-period elements.
They also mentioned few general environmental requirements for low
soiling like not having organic vapors with high airborne nature, and
specific details on the requirements of the relative and dew humidity
with the frequency of rainfalls in the environment.
Oehler et al. [107], performed an outdoor experimental work on the
performance of two different transparent hydrophobic coating layers
under the coastal Denmark’s environmental conditions for 24 weeks
through comparing the performance of uncoated and coated glass cou­
pons, regularly cleaned coupons every 4 weeks (which showed signifi­
cant transmittance restorations), and accelerated lab tests while
providing detailed and constant follow of the coupon’s status and con­
ditions over time regarding surface blister, reduction of film thickness,
fluorine losses and general surface chemistry changes, and any post-
cleaning abrasion damage. The first coating layer (Coating A) is a
commercial per-fluorinated silane coating layer with the para-chloro-
benzo-tri-fluoride material as solvent, and it was applied through spray
coating method. The second coating layer (Layer B) is a non-commercial
or research coating made from hexamethyldisilazane (also known as Bis
(trimethylsilyl)amine) with functionalized silica nanoparticles that in­
creases surface roughness allowing the material to remain the hydro­
phobicity property even if the surface of the coating was damaged, and it
was applied through the sol–gel dip coating method. They observed
cementation on all coupons due to the salty and humid environmental
conditions combined with light rainfall and evaporation cycles. They
suggested that building up of cementation can be reduced through
coatings with high abrasion resistance and super-hydrophobic nature
A.H. Alami et al.
with low roll-off and high water-contact angles. Similarly, Glaubitt et al.
[108], developed and tested the performance of a nano-porous SiO2
coating material with silica nanoparticles that was characterized
through scanning electrons microscopy and applied using the sol–gel
coating technique. They have shown the effect of nano-porous matrix,
particle’s density, and relative humidity on the performance of the
coating and concluded with their coating’s potential validity in various
applications in both solar thermal and solar PV due to their improved
transmittance and significant dust-repelling nature. Pan et al. [109],
performed experimental work on the dust deposition reduction effi­
ciency of three different coatings which are hydrophobic silica sol,
ethanol solution enhanced by SiO2 nano-particles, and silica sol
enhanced by SiO2 nano-particles coatings and compared them with
respect to bare glass under same conditions while studying their dust
deposition’s microscopic pattern and density, as well as the effect on
spectral transmittance and the degradation of PV efficiency. The results
showed that the silica sol with enhanced SiO2 nano-particles achieved
the highest spectral transmittance, lowest reduction of PV performance,
and the lowest dust deposition density, as the samples achieved a 51.4%,
38.6%, and 36.1% of the bare glass’s dust deposition density under 60
min of dust exposure and with a glass tilt angle of 30◦ . Oh et al. [110],
performed indoor and outdoor experimental work to evaluate the anti-
reflection and anti-soiling properties of a silica-based coating through
studying the power improvements and soiling mitigations on a solar PV
panel under the environmental conditions of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The
coating was applied through manually sweeping the solution using a
bar, they performed outdoor experiments to evaluate the anti-reflection
coating property, they observed a 2.56% of average power output
improvement, while performed indoor experiments to evaluate the anti-
soiling coating property through artificial soiling tests and observed a
3.85% of soiling effect reduction. Zhang et al. [111], performed an in­
door experimental study to evaluate the performance of a super-
hydrophobic coating consisting of organic silicon resin and ethanol,
enhanced with SiO2 nano-particles on polycrystalline solar PV panel
glass through comparing its’ dust deposition density. For test apparatus
and procedures, they used a computerized closed chamber with a dust
generator, a fan, and a particle counter, the tests lasted for 60 min
comparing different tilt angles of 30◦ , 45◦ , and 60◦ . The results shown
that the increase in tilt angle decreases the dust deposition density.
OH Attia [112], developed a wind-powered PV surface dust removal
technique using mechanical vibrators powered by wind energy and
attached to the PV panel, it cleans the surface through generating har­
monic excitation forces that overcomes the adhesion force between the
dust particles and the panel. They used different performance indication
parameters like the dust removal index and different experimental and
analysis methodologies such as the response surface methodology and
the analysis of variance. They concluded that their mechanical vibrator
system has a cleaning efficiency of 91% when compared to the
demonstrative electric vibrator system and for the same dust cleaning
quantity. Du et al. [113], performed simulations using FLUENT and
validated using experimental results on the effectiveness of using tur­
bulent airflow to clean the dust off of solar panels and analyzed the
mechanics behind the adhesion of fine dust particles on surfaces like
solar PV under dry and wet conditions. They used the Monte Carlo
Method to calculate the critical shear velocity, which was related to the
dust particles characteristics, then they designed a special expansion
nozzle with multiple cavities in series.
Few studies have been done on the electrodynamic shields or
screens; thus, further attention and research is advised. Guo et al. [114],
carried out field tests under the mild winter and warm spring conditions
of Doha, Qatar for 6 months to evaluate their fabricated PV prototype
with integrated electrodynamic shield electrodes, they insulated the
electrodes using a cover of polymer dielectric, then they compared the
soiling losses, cleanliness, relative humidity, and the cleanliness index
change rate under activation and deactivation of the electrodynamic
shield from two fabricated PV samples with respect to a non-changed PV
8
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
module as a reference. Their results have shown a significant reduction
in soiling losses from 16% to 33% for a 9 kVP hourly operation, but no
observable results were detected under 6 kVP hourly operation, which
encourages further research on larger samples for longer testing dura­
tions. Bone et al. [115], provided a detailed modeling optimization and a
good research foundation for improving the electrical and optical con­
figurations of the electrodes used in the electrodynamic screens or
shields. Hiroyuki Kawamoto [116], developed a detachable cleaning
device that utilizes electrodynamic forces in cleaning strongly adhered
dust particles through applying high AC voltage across the parallel
screen electrodes which would be above the solar panels. They proposed
three countermeasures for further cleaning improvements including
adjustable operational scheme, improvement of electrode configura­
tions, and airflow utilization, such technology can improve the opera­
tional efficiencies of utility-scale PV projects in the deserts. In their other
research paper [117], Hiroyuki Kawamoto developed a similar device
that instead utilizes electrostatic forces, consumes less power and highly
efficient and can be used in the same operational consequences.
Chen et al. [118], performed an experimental work to investigate the
relationships between the cleaning efficiency and the morphological
parameters of the PV surface comparing five different alumina oxide
surfaces concluding that the cleaning efficiency or the dust removal
effectiveness is highly dependent on the brush size, particle size, sur­
face’s morphology, and textures. Hossain et al. [119], designed, devel­
oped, and experimentally investigated an automatic PV self-cleaning
system that utilizes phase change material based thermal energy storage
system to increase the electrical performance of the PV panels. They
studied the performance of the system under varying material flow rate
of 0.5–4 L/min for a PV system that would have 9.89% electrical effi­
ciency without the installed system, they concluded that a maximum
thermal efficiency of 77.60% was obtained at 2 L/min while a maximum
optimized PV electrical efficiency of 11.91% was obtained at 4 L/min.
Similarly, Zainuddin et al. [120], developed and tested a smart self-
cleaning system that can monitor the generated electrical power and
can take instructions and be controlled through internet of things mobile
application, their results revealed a 22% reduction of PV performance
due to the external resistance. Al Qdah et al. [121], developed a self-
cleaning system for Medina, Saudi Arabia conditions, it is to be pow­
ered by the PV system itself and uses a wiper and water jet, then they
compared the PV efficiency for a clean and a dirty PV panel under two
different solar irradiances. Their results showed that under 805 W/m2
irradiance, there was 4.78% increase in the electrical efficiency (from
9% to 13.78%) of the solar panel while under 460 W/m2 irradiance,
there was a 5.3% increase (from 7.3% to 12.6%). Sugiartha et al. [122],
developed a semi-automatic wiper controlled cleaning system that uti­
lizes a DC motor to power the automatic movement of the wiper with
manual buttons for extra control over the rotation direction of the wiper,
then they compared their system by number of wiper’s swept repetitions
to an initially cleaned panel. Their results showed that for a 10, 20, and
30 repetitions, the system delivered 57.0%, 79.1%, and 86.7% of the
performance of the clean solar panel. Al-Housani et al. [123], performed
several experiments and economic analysis to compare five different
samples and find the best suitable, efficient, and economically profitable
cleaning method and frequency. They compared the cleaning methods
of a brush or a microfiber cloth as well as an added vacuum cleaner with
both options. The authors compared them to a reference panel with no
cleaning methods installed, all the samples had a cadmium-telluride PV
panel with maximum power point tracking system and were in a dusty
and a rocky area in the western part of Doha, Qatar. Their results showed
that both of the microfiber-based cloth wiper methods (with and without
the vacuum cleaner) had the best performance as they improved the
performance by 6% with respect to the reference sample under the
weekly cleaning frequency, but from an economic point of view, the
microfiber cloth with a vacuum cleaner is too expensive; thus, the best
system was the microfiber cloth wiper cleaning system taking into
consideration the cost and improvement differences. Additionally, they
A.H. Alami et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942

compared the daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning frequencies and Table 2
found that the weekly one is the most efficient one. Tiwari et al. [124], Comparison between different dust and soiling mitigation techniques [105,125].
conducted experiments and simulations to study the technical and Mitigating Description Benefits Drawback
economic efficiency of an indigenously developed PV dust self-cleaning Technique
system on a 1 KW roof-top solar PV panel in an industrial town in Bhilai, Natural Dependence on • Relatively • Site dependent,
India. Their results showed a 5 kWh of daily generated power, a 4% Cleaning natural events like efficient for • Depends on
generation reduction per day, generating 106 kWh per month rainfall, Wind, certain weather and
concluding a return on investment time of 2.75 years [124]. Table 2 snow, and gravity installments natural events,
with the under certain • Unpredictable,
below compares between all of the previously mentioned soiling and utilization of dust deposition • Not efficient for
dust mitigation techniques. factors like tilt densities. smaller dust
angles, without the • Cost free. particles.
Weather and ambient conditions effect use of any sort of
added technology.
Manual Manpower’s • Guaranteed • High cost due
Just like any semiconductor-based device, solar PV panels are highly Cleaning utilization of basic 100% cleaning to labor costs,
sensitive to weather and ambient changes. Different weather conditions cleaning efficiency, • High water
affect the characteristics of the solar PV panel differently but due to their equipment like • Performed on consumption
water, brush, command and causing
high effect on dust deposition over the solar panels, temperature, hu­
cloth, cleaning whenever problems for
midity, and wind velocity effects in many case studies are discussed as chemicals, and needed, arid areas,
secondary effects and solved through mitigations of soiling effect thus, ladders. • Higher chances
there are no sufficient specified studies for them especially for humidity for errors like
and wind velocity effects. Increase in solar radiation and ambient tem­ the occurrences
of scratches.
perature increases the module temperature which affects the I-V char­
Mechanical Utilization of • Reduces the • Requires high
acteristics in many ways as it slightly and negligibly increases the short Cleaning mechanical parts manual labor mechanical
circuit current values but has a huge effect of reduction on the values of like a wiper, costs, maintenance,
open circuit voltage and output power which is mainly due to the blower, • Automatic and • Consumes from
mechanically on-command the produced
increased concentrations of carriers causing an increase in their internal
controllable brush, activation, power,
recombination, such reductions will reduce the fill factor and the effi­ motor, gear, • Provides both of • High capital
ciency of the solar PV module [26,126,127]. Fig. 4 shows the effect of chains, and basic cleaning cost.
different module temperature values on I-V curves which also indicates sensors, with the and scrubbing,
the change in the maximum power values and the fill factor [128]. use of • Recorded a
microcontrollers maximum
Regarding other weather and ambient conditions, increasing wind
like the efficiency of
velocity and rainfall causes opposite results as it decreases the module’s programmable 95%.
temperature and eventually increases the overall performance of the PV intelligent
panel [26]. The direct relationship between the relative humidity and computer and the
the ambient temperature has a similarly high effect on the PV perfor­ programmable
logic controller.
mance, as PV modules tend to perform better under lower values of Electrodynamic Utilizes • No water • High capital
relative humidity. Absolute humidity, however, indicates the possibility Screens/ programmable requirement, cost,
of water droplets formation on the PV surface which can cause solar Shields logic • Highly effective • Transparent
arrays reflecting away from the module and can help in dust deposition microcontrollers and fast screen is less
and sensors use cleaning durable,
and eventually block light from being received by the solar panel. Tijjani
high voltage input process, • Highly
et al. [129], performed detailed experimental work on the effect of in generating • Can be dependent on
humidity on a Dp-Li21 polycrystalline PV panel’s temperature and their electrodynamic or automatically or relative
effect on its current, voltage, output power, and efficiency, under the electrostatic forces manually humidity,
weather conditions of Nigeria. Their results showed that the current through a highly controlled, • Not efficient for
transparent front • No mechanical smaller dust
production is maximum for temperature values between 42 ◦ C and 45 ◦ C screen. components, particles.
with a humidity below 35%, voltage production is found to be stable for • Consumes less
temperature and humidity below 42 ◦ C and 60%, respectively, while the power,
power production is maximum at a temperature of 45 ◦ C and fairly • Recorded a
maximum
stable for humidity values below 40%. Similarly, Ettah et al. [130],
efficiency of
studied the effect of relative humidity on the current, voltage, and ef­ 90%.
ficiency of solar panels in Calabar, Nigeria concluding that current Robotic Utilization of • Automatically • High cost,
values increase for low relative humidity values between 69% and 75% Cleaning microcontrollers provides both of • Slow cleaning
as well as voltage values which decreases with the decrease of relative and Arduino to basic cleaning operations,
control equipment and scrubbing, • Filters has to be
humidity up to 70%–75% where it stabilizes. Tan et al. [131], studied like a motor, • Efficient and replaced
the effect of moisture creation on the performance of the solar PV panels brush, sensors, accurate water regularly.
concluding that the reliability weakness of the PV panels is mainly sprays, and filters. requirement,
depending on the packaging of the PV panel. Panjwani et al. [132], • Wireless control
and monitoring,
found a 55%–60% decrease in solar PV efficiency or performance from
• Rechargeable.
70% humidity through their experimental analysis. Additionally, Kazem Passive Cleaning Utilization of • No power • Limited
et al. [133], done experimental studies on the effect of humidity and water for easier requirements, lifetime,
found similar results to the ones of the previously discussed papers. cleaning processes • Considered as • Possible
Mekhilef et al. [75], and Park et al. [134], studied in details the different of a chemically improvements reduction of
prepared surface for the Natural optical
effects of humidity, temperature, and wind velocity and their correlation coatings with Cleaning performances.
with each other as well as dusting problems. Additionally, Xu et al. hydrophobic or method,
[135], studied through experiments and simulations the effects of dust (continued on next page)
deposition on the temperature of the solar PV panels under lighting and

9
A.H. Alami et al.
Table 2 (continued )
Mitigating Description Benefits Drawback
Technique
hydrophilic • Recorded a
properties. maximum
efficiency of
75%.
Fig. 4. I-V curves under module temperatures of 25 ◦ C, 45 ◦ C, and 65 ◦ C [128].
windy conditions in a desertic environment concluding that the dust
deposition problem significantly increases the upper and the lower
surface temperatures of the module even way higher than the ambient
temperature, while increasing wind velocities exponentially decreases
the maximum temperature of the PV module. Their simulation results of
the external electromagnetic field for a plane wave irradiated spherical
particle showed that dust deposition can cause light convergence which
results in increasing and enhancing the light intensity which will in­
crease the current produced but will significantly heat the solar panel
causing an inverse relationship reducing the overall solar PV
performance.
Correlations between various weather conditions and module tem­
perature can be generally studied through analyzing the technical effect
of temperature on the performance of PV panels. Equations (5), (6), and
(7) below show the relationships between a PV cell temperature with its
efficiency, output power, and open circuit voltage, respectively [136].
[ ]
ηC = ηref 1 − βref (TC − Tref ) (5)
( )
G nique, reduced temperature and improved efficiency could be achieved
Pmax = Pmax(STC) [1 + (TC (Pmax , G))×(TC − 25) ]
1000W/m2
( )
VOC = VOC(STC) [1 + (TC (VOC , G))×(TC − 25) ] + (TC (G)) × ln
G cooling. The experiment revealed a reduction in temperature by 4.7 ◦ C
1000W/m2
Where ηC and ηref are the cell and reference efficiencies, TC, Tref, and βref
are the cell temperature, reference cell temperature, and the tempera­
ture coefficient, respectively. For equations (6) and (7), the terms G,
TC (Pmax , G), TC (VOC , G), and TC (G) are the irradiance, normalized tem­
perature coefficients for the maximum power under G irradiance,
normalized temperature coefficients for the open circuit voltage under G
irradiance, and the temperature coefficient for the G irradiance,
respectively. Noting that Eq. (7) can also be used for ISC calculations
through replacing every Pmax with ISC. Dubey et al. [127], provided
different efficiency-temperature correlations for a variety of conditions
and assumptions.
Cooling and general mitigation techniques
Several research groups have done magnificent recent work on
cooling systems and either generalized their research [137-140],
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
focused on certain cleaning technologies like ground-coupled central
cooling system [141], or focused on certain PV technologies like dye-
sensitized solar cells [142], or concentrated solar PV [143]. Sahay
et al. [141], provided a comprehensive review on the efficiencies of
different solar cooling systems and did special testing of the ground-
coupled central panel cooling system through the smoke flow visuali­
zation method then analyzed the collected data using the analysis of
variance technique to conclude that this system have significantly
increased the performance and the efficiency of the solar PV system and
it is a good way to go for such problems. Royne et al . [143], conducted
special examinations and thermal analysis on several concentrating PV
systems and classified them by geometry, they concluded that single-cell
arrangements do not need more than the passive cooling techniques
even for high radiation concentrations, while an active cooling system
with a thermal resistance of less than 10-4 K.m2/W for a densely packed
cells with a concentration higher than 150 suns.
Cooling technologies can be classified into water- and air- based
cooling using different technologies which are similar to the dust
removal and soil mitigation techniques as identical works have been
done for temperature reduction purposes like natural air circulations,
forced air circulations [144-152], hydraulic cooling, heat pipes [153-
156], cooling enhancement through phase change materials [157-165],
thermoelectric cooling [166-169], forced water circulation [170-177],
heat sinks [178,179], water immersion cooling [180-186], transparent
coating [187-189], floating tracking concentrating cooling [190-195],
water spraying, and thermal collectors [196-202]. All the works per­
formed regular testing and experiments on utilizing such technologies
differently for temperature reduction and cooling of PV panels, and/or
heating domestic water as well as further investigations and develop­
ment for certain technologies and phase change materials, obtaining
similar conclusions and results. Table 3 compares between different
techniques as solutions to temperature and humidity effects with utili­
zation of natural and artificial wind velocities.
Wu et al. [203], studied utilizing gas expansion devices for distrib­
uting cooling water from rainfalls over the PV cells and studied its
possibility and effectiveness for house or indoor applications through
studying the gas chamber sizes, solar radiation variation, and gas
expansion. They proposed a heat transfer model to evaluate the system
and observed that the PV cells’ temperature was reduced by up to 8.3%.
Popovici et al. [178], examined the utilization of heat sinks for air
cooling a PV panel and achieved a temperature reduction of 100 ◦ C with
an efficiency increase from 6.76% to 7.55%. A heat pipe utilizes a pipe
with high thermal conductivity to transfer energy of a fluid from the
source to the sink using evaporation and condensation. In this tech­
(6)
by converting the heat in the panel to water or air. An experiment was
conducted using a heat pipe array by circulating water and air for PV
and power improvement by 8.4% for air-cooling, while for water cool­
(7) ing, the temperature reduced by 8 ◦ C and the power output increased by
13.9%. Fig. 5 shows a schematic of heat pipe for air cooling/water-
cooling {Dwivedi, 2020 #50}.
Amelia et al. [152], examined a cooling system that consists of four
DC fans cooling the backside of the PV panels, they achieved an average
temperature reduction of up to 22.2%. Also, when forced convection
cooling using fans in the back side of PV modules was examined, the
increase of 2% in the efficiency and reduction in temperature of 15 ◦ C
were detected.
Additionally, in his overview paper [126], Dr. K.V. Vidyanandan
suggested and summarized several aspects for rooftop PV cooling or
temperature reduction practices that can reduce the temperature for up
to 30%, including:
i. Increasing the gap between the panels and the roof or the ground
to increase convective air flow cooling. Example: Misiopecki et al.
[204].
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A.H. Alami et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942

Table 3 Table 3 (continued )

Comparison between different cooling techniques as solutions for temperature cooling Description Benefits Drawback
and humidity effect problems [137,199]. Technique
cooling Description Benefits Drawback they tend to • No power • End of life
Technique absorb and store consumption, disposal
Natural Air Utilization of air • Low cost, • Low heat heat effectively • Passive heat problems.
Circulation cooling through • No maintenance transfer rates, during melting exchange,
the stack effect. required, • Highly process and has • Noise free,
• Easy integration dependent on a peak • Maintenance cost
due to its passive wind speed and performance free,
heat exchange direction, under hot • On-command
processes, • Higher climates. utilization of
• Long lifetime, possibility of stored heat.
• Noise free, dust deposition, Thermoelectric Consumes • Free of moving • Dependent on
• No power • Low thermal Cooling electrical energy parts, ambient
consumption. properties and to transfer and • Noise free, conditions,
flowrates of air, remove heat • Small size, • Consumes from
• Limited using the Peltier • Easy and non- the output
reduction of effect. complex power,
temperature, integration, • Reliability
• Cannot be used • Requires low issues,
on rooftop maintenance thus, • High cost
technologies. lower compared to
Forced Air Utilizes devices • Increases overall • Low maintenance other cooling
Circulation to force air in efficiency, effectiveness in costs, technologies,
certain • Economically hot climates, • Liquid-free or • Uncapable of
directions with viable, • High cost of fans solid-state heat storing heat
the needed • Final resulting air and ducts when transfer. thus, heat is
flowrates. can be used in dealing with wasted.
Considered heating buildings, high flowrates, Floating Utilizes • High operational • Possible waste
effective and • Higher heat • High power Tracking reflectors, solar efficiency, of water due to
mostly in cold transfer rates and consumption, Concentrating tracking • Solves energy evaporation,
climates. mass flow rates • Requires Cooling systems, and dispersion issues, • High capital
than natural maintenance water sprinklers • Solves electric cost,
methods, with high costs, for efficient grid-stress even • Water sprinklers
• Does not depend • Noise pollution. solar PV cooling when using cannot fully
on wind direct and and pumping spray the whole
speed, performance techniques. surface of a PV
• High temperature increase. module
reduction results. requiring costly
Heat Pipes Transfers heat • Passive heat • Low heat modifications.
from solar PV exchanging transfer rates, Water spraying Centrifugal • Increases energy • Wastes heat due
using main processes, • Slow pumps, spraying yield, to no storage
principles of • Low cost, temperature nozzles, and • Highly efficient techniques
thermal • Simple and non- reduction, suction pipes are and significant being proposed
conductivity complex • Dependent on all utilized in an performance or utilized,
and phase integration. other effective system when compared to • Partial and not
transition with uncontrollable to solve forced forced air cooling. full cooling of
liquids like factors. water flowing the whole
water and problems and surface area of
ammonia efficiently cool the PV panel.
flowing inside the PV panel.
the pipes or Forced Water Circulates water • Increases • Cannot achieve
tubes. Circulation under certain electrical maximum
Heat Sinks Similar • Provides hot-spot • Unstable under flow rates to efficiency, efficiency if flow
processes to alleviations, turbulent provide PV • Provides hot water rates are
heat pipes and • Reported to airflow, cooling, for domestic remained
can be effectively • No useful electrical applications. constant,
hybridized with increase electrical utilization of efficiency • High initial cost.
them and efficiency, collected heat, increase, and
thermoelectric • Reported to • Loss of heat heat storage.
devices to decrease average conduction Water Fully immerses • High • Low electrical
decrease the temperature to between hot and Immersion and submerges effectiveness, efficiency
surface 8.29%. cold parts. Cooling solar PV panels • Economic during cloudy
temperature and in water bodies solution, days,
increase for electrical • Environmentally • Efficiency is
electrical efficiency friendly, highly
efficiencies. improvement • Does not need dependent on
Phase Change Different types • High heat transfer • High materials and temperature land submersion
Material of phase change rates, cost, decreasing requirements, depth,
Enhanced materials are • High heat • Possible toxicity solutions. • Increases • Ionized water
Cooling utilized to either absorption and fire safety electrical negatively
directly cool off properties due to issues, efficiency affects the
the solar panel latent heating, • Possible significantly efficiency over
or enhance • Special isothermal corrosion issues, during clear days. time.
other cooling processes of heat Transparent Utilizes • Economic • Reflected heat
techniques as removal, Coating transparent solution, through infrared
thermal • Extra space free, radiations is
(continued on next page)

11
A.H. Alami et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942

Table 3 (continued ) electrical energy up to 15% in harsh weather conditions. In this system,
cooling Description Benefits Drawback water is pumped and sprayed on the front side of the PV module.
Technique Spraying water on both sides of the PV module was also investigated.
blackbodies • Drastic reduction wasted and
Compared to the back side cooling, cooling the front side showed a
consisting of of PV cannot yet be better enhancement in electrical power of 14.6%. Although the system
silica photonic temperature. usefully utilized consumes a large amount of water, it can be adapted for floating solar
crystals and uses in domestic or systems as it offers lower costs and flexibility.
them as coating other
Thermoelectric cooling was also investigated and showed an
materials on the applications.
surface of the PV improvement in the performance from the range of 8.35–11.46% to
panel to reflect 12.26–13.27%. Cooling by phase change materials (PCM) allows ma­
heat generated terials to absorb or release latent heat when melting or freezing, and thus
in the form of allows the temperature to remain stable. The PCM could be organic oil
infrared
radiations, it
or inorganic salt hydrates. Integrating a PCM with the PV panel is good
also has anti- for heat absorption during daytime and heat release in night-time. The
reflection and appropriate PCM is selected based on the melting temperature and latent
light-trapping heat as shown in Fig. 6.
properties.
Thermal Hybridization of • Provides a • Low conversion
Collectors thermal combined clean efficiency rate, Challenges for grid integration
collectors and source of energy, • Requires
solar thermal • Waste heat from relatively The technical challenges associated with integrating PVS to the grid
systems with solar PV is used in constant heat involve the transmission line and distribution network of the grid based
photovoltaic energy sources,
systems for best productions • Technological
on the PV system scale. The installation of small-scale PV systems is
combined through thermal progression is gaining more interest for customers in developing countries as a result of
cooling-heating- collectors, still slow. the reduction in PV technology prices and the increase in electricity
win–win • Increases lifetime costs from the grid. The roof-top domestic systems are interconnected
solutions. of PV modules.
with the grid’s distribution network and have several impacts due to
their high penetration levels into the network. In addition, solar energy
ii. Taking into consideration the heat absorption and optical prop­ has a great potential for producing large amounts of electricity thus, in
erties of the materials used for panels and mounting structures the near future, large-scale PV systems will be injected into the grid.
(light-colors are advised). However, this will have some technical aspects on the transmission line
iii. Using of perforated base structure. of the grid [205]. Hence, this section will discuss managing large-scale
iv. Keeping inverters and other possible heat generating electrical PV systems and small-scale PV systems with high penetration levels.
equipment away from the solar panels.
v. Usage of cooling fans.

In active water cooling, such as forced water circulation, excess heat

is transferred to the circulating coolant to reduce the temperature. In
this system, the efficiency relies on the material’s heat transfer capacity
of the pipe. However, this method requires high installation and mate­
rial costs, therefore, this cooling technique is not recommended for
large-scale solar plants.
In the case of liquid immersion cooling, PV modules are installed
underwater. This process results in high efficiency by utilizing heat
absorption by water from the PV panels. Improving the performance was
obtained by submerging the module with a depth of 1 cm in water,
which resulted in an improvement of 17.8% in the electrical energy. This
indicates that this technique has a high-temperature reduction potential,
however, liquid immersion cooling is not suitable for floating solar
systems.
Previous studies on water spraying have shown an increase of the Fig. 6. Most known PCMs and their melting temperature {Bessa, 2021 #51}.

Fig. 5. Schematic of heat pipe for air cooling/water-cooling {Dwivedi, 2020 #50}.

12
A.H. Alami et al.
Small-scale PV systems
Voltage stability
Voltage stability represents the ability of an electrical system to
maintain a suitable voltage level. Voltage instability is among the main
technical challenges occurring at the distribution level in the case of
grid-connected PVS for small-scale PV systems, where the response of
changing transformers is not as fast to maintain the required voltage
level. This voltage unbalance happens due to the rapid change in irra­
diance level via cloud transient and can be seen when connecting many
PV systems to the distribution network. However, in the transmission
level, this effect is reduced since a large area of land is occupied by the
PV plant [206].
Power quality
Another technical challenge facing the integration of small-scale PV
system into the grid is power quality, where the dc current shouldn’t
exceed 0.5% of the nominal AC current in the electric utility grid
connection [207]. It represents the ability of a device to maintain a
proper power flow with the electric power being supplied constantly.
This takes into consideration the voltage variation and harmonic
distortion of the distribution network [205].
Harmonic distortion
Harmonic distortion that occurs in the current and voltage wave­
forms is a major problem that needs to be addressed. The issue becomes
more significant as the PV systems have high penetration level in the
distribution network. This term accounts for the current harmonics that
are present from the conversion of dc to ac by the inverter of the PV
system which are then injected to the distribution system that yields to
the voltage harmonic and total harmonic distortion (THD). As a result,
heat is generated in the network as losses [205].
Islanding
Islanding is another issue facing power systems that utilizes PVS. It
occurs when a distributed generator such as a solar system will continue
to provide power to the grid as long as solar radiation is available while
the utility power is no longer available [208]. If this issue is not solved
immediately, the maintenance team might be affected due to exposure
to dangers such as shocks. Thus, it’s desirable to stop energizing the
electrical power system in less than two seconds in the case of unin­
tentional islanding [207].
Proposed technical solutions:
Since voltage regulation is among the most affecting challenges,
many efforts are put to address this issue. For example, energy storage
systems can be utilized during peak generation from the PV system
where distributed and localized control methods are used to help with
voltage regulation for rooftop PV systems with large penetration levels.
The proposed method assists in maintaining the voltage within desired
limits in networks. In addition, the PV system, battery energy storage,
and the PV inverter reactive capability could be implemented to solve
the voltage regulation problem. For rural scenario, the PV and storage
systems are required to support suitable voltage profile. On the other
hand, inverters alone can provide reactive compensation for suitable
voltage profile in the urban scenario. Researchers also identified a
distributed control method that connects a PV and battery storage sys­
tem for residential applications to protect from the over-voltage problem
caused by high penetration levels, which succeeded in the use of reactive
power when the active power is not sufficient. Other researchers aimed
to use solar inverters for reactive power control to increase the PV
penetration levels in the distribution network [205].
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
Large-scale PV systems:
Active power regulation
Based on the solar radiation, the active power peak or MPP, will
change non-linearly. This requires tracking using several mechanisms
that still face some challenges including delay in the time of response
due to the variation in solar radiation, in addition to the proper number
of sensors that are needed. However, these methods will always enable
large scale PVS to operate at MPP by the available irradiance. Cloud
transients, that cause active power fluctuations have an impact on the
power balance of the grid. The variation in solar radiation causes the
PVS installed at distribution network to produce ramp rates more than
2.5 MW/min, hence, implementing ramp rate control and power
curtailment are vital for active power control. It’s important to provide
consistent track of the power needed by the Transmission System
Operator (TSO) to guarantee that the PV system will be working at MPP
all day. If the MPP is higher than the total power handling capacity of the
grid-connected PVS, then a storage system installation would be pref­
erable [206].
Reactive power regulation
The performance of PVS is limited by the maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) technique, this happens because the reactive power
control is not allowed to be completed during the day. In large scale PVS,
the inverter controls the active power as well as the reactive power since
the development of grid-connected PVS is increased. Today, under­
standing inverters limitations by considering the temperature, dc solar
radiation and dc voltage variations is an issue that needs to be addressed
[206].
Equipment loading and power losses
Power losses in the utility grid are considered ohmic losses, since
current which determines power, flows through transformers, lines and
loads. Power losses and equipment loading are both dependent on the
current rms value and will vary according to it. Reduction of the dis­
tribution losses was determined when the two balancing inverters were
controlled by central and local converters. Local controllers consider the
absolute value for local voltage, while central controllers consider the
line current that constraints voltage drop across the line. Integrating the
PVS with the utility grid results in an increment or decrement in power
losses which depends on the PVS location and size. For example, it was
found that the grid power losses may increase due to the nonoptimal size
or location of the PVS. However, there are various techniques mentioned
in literature to find the optimal size and location of the PVS and there­
fore used to reduce the losses. In addition, a review on methods imple­
mented to optimize the performance of the current electric utility grid
connected with the PVS has been also done [206].
Grid system stability challenges
Due to the large size of the grid power system, the stability factor
becomes significant. The grid stability is categorized into:
• Voltage stability: the power system capability to maintain suitable
voltage levels during normal operation and after being exposed to a
disturbance. Uncontrollable increase or decrease in voltage levels of
buses of the system cause the instability of voltage levels [205].
For large scale systems, when the output power crosses a certain limit
of 0.2–10 MW, the voltage changes as a parabolic curve, in which the
transmission line impedance determines the peak of the curve. Cloud
transient, solar radiation, and temperature are mainly what cause the
voltage profile to be affected. The other important parameter that needs
to be considered is the distance of feeder. Since the voltage level at the
feeder depends on the size and location of photovoltaics, thus, it’s
required to build the solar PVS in an optimum location at the distribu­
tion level for lower power losses and voltage stability [206].
A.H. Alami et al.
• Rotor angle stability: the synchronized generators ability to sustain
synchronism after being exposed to a disturbance in the grid power
system.
• Frequency stability: the ability of the power system to maintain the
frequency within acceptable level after undergoing a disturbance by
restoring the balance between the generation and load. A notable
mismatch between generation and load is caused by the disturbance.
The instability of the grid system can be shown in various ways. The
grid system continuous to function under the small disturbances like
variation in loads or generators. Moreover, the grid system covers a
large geographical area which cause it to be subjected to large distur­
bances including the loss of the main components. However, it’s
essential for the grid to respond and maintain stable to these distur­
bances. The three types of grid system stability are classified by their
time frame (short and long term stability) and disturbance size (small
and large stability) [205].
Voltage stability
Voltage stability can be categorized into:
• Large disturbance voltage stability: when a large disturbance
including loss of large generator occurs, the power system must
maintain constant voltages. This phenomenon has varied time frame,
either long term (minutes) or short term (few seconds).
• Small disturbance voltage stability: when a small disturbance like
changes of the load of the system occurs, constant voltages must be
maintained. This type can be analyzed using linearized method,
however, non-linear effects including time delays are not considered.
This study has similar time frame to the large disturbance voltage
stability [205].
Rotor angle stability
Rotor angle stability is a short-term phenomenon that can be cate­
gorized into:
• Large disturbance rotor angle stability, or transient stability, is when
being exposed to an extreme disturbance like transmission line short
circuit, the system must keep being synchronized. The system orig­
inal operating state and the significance of the disturbance affect the
transient stability.
• Small disturbance rotor angle stability, or small signal stability, is
when small disturbance including changes of the load occurs, the
power system has to stay synchronized. The system strength, normal
operating state and type of generator excitation controls utilized are
what affect the small signal stability [205].
Frequency stability
In any electrical system, the frequency of generation mainly depends
on the synchronous speed of the generator. Depending on the load and
the generated power balance, the control of the generators by acceler­
ating or deaccelerating them will in turn cause the frequency to rise or
fall. If the demand and generation are not balanced, then this kinetic
energy will limit the rate of frequency [206]. The frequency of the power
system is another problem when it is outside the desired frequency
range. In this case, the inverter will stop feeding the electrical system,
when the frequency ranges of the grid are stabilized, then the inverter
will continue to work since the inverter must meet the electricity grid
standards to operate when exporting the electricity [206]. The inverter
is responsible for converting DC power to AC power to supply the load or
the grid [208]. The stability of the frequency is associated to the grid
system ability to uphold or recover the generation and load equilibrium.
The time frame varies from a few seconds to several minutes [205].
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
Proposed technical solutions:
For large-scale PVS, the active power control provides support to the
frequency, and the control of reactive power provides voltage support.
Without controlling, the balancing of the grid will be affected from the
supply and demand mismatches. Therefore, it is essential for both sides,
the supply and demand to have the grid flexibility balanced. As shown
from Fig. 7, The flexibility of the supply side can be attained using en­
ergy storage, curtailment of renewable energy, and flexibility of gener­
ation, whereas for the demand side, energy storage, demand response
and smart loads offers the flexibility [205].
Integrating energy storage technologies is greatly encouraged due to
its several advantages, such as regulating the fluctuations of the fre­
quency and voltage and thus the grid. Since no storage technique can
meet all the needs of the grid, with the different technologies targeting
different aspects, hence, considering a hybrid energy storage system of
two or more technologies have the potential to fulfill the grid’s needs
[205].
Maintenance strategies
There are numerous types of faults that may occur to PV systems
leading to degradation in PV output as well in PV performance. Indeed,
the effect of such faults is very harmful especially when large scale
systems are considered. It may include power fluctuation, low power
factor, frequency fluctuation and inrush current. That is why, it is
inescapable to define and adopt different maintenance strategies that
allow overcoming the potentials faults that may occur.
Depending on the nature of fault, different maintenance strategies
can be used. Indeed, these strategies can be classified within four types
that are preventive, predictive, corrective and urgent case. Preventive
strategies are used as a pre-fault action in order to reduce the probability
of faults to occur. Predictive maintenance strategies in their turn are
utilized to identify the optimal maintenance intervention timing.
Corrective maintenance strategies are used when a failure occurs. It may
involve replacing or repairing tasks depending on the degree of failure.
Finally, urgent case strategies are dedicated for urgent failures that
require fast intervention. Fig. 8 shows the different types of maintenance
strategies.
Preventive maintenance strategies
One of the typical faults targeted by preventive maintenance strategy
is the PV efficiency decrease due to high temperature [209]. Different
cooling techniques can be used such as the use of phase change material,
finned plates or water cooling. Other types of preventive strategies may
include the use of transformer-less inverter and lightening protection as
shown in Fig. 9.
Fig. 7. Supply-demand flexibility [205].
A.H. Alami et al.
Fig. 8. Classification of maintenance strategies.
Fig. 9. Preventive maintenance strategies.
Predictive maintenance strategies
Predictive maintenance strategies are mainly based on data collec­
tion. Indeed, predictive algorithms are constructed relying on these
data. In contrary to corrective or urgent case strategies, predictive ap­
proaches are usually applied during the normal functioning of the sys­
tem, and permit a significant reduction of maintenance cost.
Corrective maintenance strategies
Corrective maintenance strategies are the most used techniques since
they include broad panel of faults as shown in Table 4. Among the events
that require corrective intervention are snow accumulation, dust accu­
mulations, shading and equipment failure.
Urgent case strategies
Urgent maintenance strategies are applied when a fault requiring
urgent action occurs. Indeed, such actions have high priority with
respect to other faults. Fig. 10 shows different faults requiring urgent
action.
Concentrated irradiance effects on PV cells
The most commercialized PV plants are the silicon solar cells, due to
the availability of silicon dioxide (SiO2) and its low manufacturing
costs. However, the efficiencies of crystalline silicon cells remain rela­
tively low, as the maximum theoretical efficiency achieved is in the
range of 33%. Thus, new technologies have emerged to enhance the
efficiency. Multi-Junction cells can absorb a wide range of wavelengths
as it utilizes various semiconductor materials with different bandgaps
stacked in a cell. The efficiencies recorded are higher than those of sil­
icon solar cells, but their manufacturing costs are high. Solar
Table 4
Faults and corresponding corrective strategies [210].
Corrective Techniques
Artificial Intelligence Water Cleaning
Events:
Snow accumulation
Dust/particles accumulation ✓ ✓
Shading ✓ ✓
Equipment failure
Corrective Tasks:
Replace
Fix
Remove ✓ ✓
Repair
Code ✓ ✓
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
concentration offers a solution for the integration of Multi-Junction cells
in the PV technologies. These systems utilize refractive and/or reflective
non-imaging optical components to concentrate solar radiation into
solar cells. This allows a received flux to be concentrated on a small area
that corresponds to the solar cell. By using optical elements with high
efficiency, small sizes and efficient multi-junction solar cells, low-cost
electricity will be produced. The National Renewable Energy Labora­
tory (NREL) publishes a chart on yearly basis that shows the efficiency
chart for different solar cell technologies. The highest efficiencies
correspond to multi-junction solar cells which are comparable with the
efficiency of fossil fuel power plants as well as high concentrator PV
systems (HCPV) that are commonly used in CPV technology and
considered as the most promising technology for CPV. The proper op­
tical components and precision of tracking remain the essential re­
quirements for high-efficiency HCPV systems. Two-axis tracking system
positions the system towards the sun rays such that its surface remains in
normal incidence with the sun. The best HCPV modules have the largest
acceptance angle, the maximum value of acceptance angle is ± 1.9◦
which designates to an average geometric concentration ratio 800 × .
Although the CPV technology provides high efficiency, lack of demand
and investors are the main drawbacks that cause their failure in
commercialization. Hence, more research should be implemented to
solve this problem and provide a cost-effective approach.
Research gap and suggestions in the field
Since most of the studies done on soiling effects were site specific,
therefore, further research should be done to predict the effect of factors
like frame on the solar module or the tilt angle. However, environmental
parameters are available and can be used to determine soiling losses
without PV data. The monitoring solutions need a purchase and instal­
lation costs, whereas other solutions can be placed with no costs. Soiling
extraction requires to input a performance ratio, when not accessible,
irradiance and temperature data can be obtained by a satellite for any
location, with or without costs.
Research efforts should concentrate on reducing thermal losses in PV
technologies. The main technical challenges that face solar PVs are the
reliability and power quality challenges. The reliability challenges
include the weather conditions which depend on the sun radiation and
wind velocity, while the quality challenges consist of the voltage and
power frequency fluctuations. To enhance the voltage regulation and
match the reactive power demand of the grid, a static synchronous
compensator is proposed to be integrated. Utilizing energy storage
minimizes active power demand and improves voltage regulation.
Combining a static synchronous compensator and energy storage will
provide additional advantage.
Conclusions
Various technical challenges facing the operational processes of solar
Dry Cleaning Snow Removal Equipment Technical Maintenance Shading Mitigation
✓
✓
✓
✓ ✓
✓ ✓
✓ ✓ ✓
15
A.H. Alami et al.
Fig. 10. Urgent case maintenance strategies [210].
PV technologies have been reviewed, discussed, and compared. Brief
technical background on solar panels and their performance indicators
was included for better understanding of PV structures and how various
effects can impact their performance. Solar radiation variations and
shading effects results in significant decrease of the produced current,
more drastic and dangerous results were found for series connected
panels more than the parallel ones or other configurations, non-
uniformed partial shading was found to be more dangerous and
harder to deal with than uniformed shading as shape and size of the
object causing the shade are highly effective; therefore, several solutions
including topology, active system, passive devices, and different array
configurations were proposed, discussed, and compared with the most
recent work on them being reviewed. Weather and ambient conditions
like temperature increase, absolute humidity, relative humidity, and
wind velocities were reviewed and discussed through technical analysis
of temperature-PV performance relationships, all recent investigations
observed that PV modules have the best performance when module
temperature is around 40 ◦ C and ambient has a relatively low humidity,
while the effect of wind velocities and rainfalls was found to be highly
positive when increasing the flowrates as they cooldown the modules
and remove certain percentage of dust depositing on the PV surface, a
comprehensive and a comparative review was conducted for several
cooling solutions utilizing water, air, hybridization of different thermal
systems, and phase changing materials enhancement methods. Soiling
effect had the most attention regarding research and development due to
it combining most of the other effects, as soiling or the deposition of dust
particles causes shading and blockage of solar radiation and in some
cases can cause concentration of radiation which leads to module tem­
perature increase and possibility of hot-spot occurrence, also factors like
relative humidity can increase the module temperature and create water
droplets can accumulates dust and dirt. Therefore, a comparative review
of recently developed technologies and techniques was done to mitigate
soiling effects through different cleaning, coating, and shielding
methods. All the challenges are found to be connected to each other and
continuously impacting each other’s effect on solar PV technologies;
thus, common efficient solutions were generalized under many case
scenarios of different weather, environmental, and situational condi­
tions where these challenges were increasing or decreasing each other’s
negative impacts. Further work shall be done on the exact impact of
16
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 51 (2022) 101942
condensed dirt accumulating on the surface of the PV panel, relative and
absolute humidity effect on the performance of the PV panel, and
development of cooling and coating techniques.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Abdul Hai Alami: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft,
Methodology, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Malek Kamal
Hussien Rabaia: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.
Enas Taha Sayed: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing,
Writing – review & editing. Mohamad Ramadan: Writing – original
draft, Writing – review & editing. Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem:
Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Shamma Alasad:
Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Data curation.
Abdul-Ghani Olabi: Writing – review & editing, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
References
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