Investigation of the Physical and Chemical Properties of Dust Accumulation and Its Impact on Solar Photovoltaic Performance in a High‐Temperature and High‐Soiling Frequency Region

Dust accumulation presents a major challenge to photovoltaic (PV) performance, particularly in harsh environments like Kuwait, characterized by extremely high summer temperatures and frequent dust storms. This study investigates the physical and chemical properties of the accumulated dust and their effect on PV power generation and panel temperature to develop location‐specific mitigation strategies. Furthermore, the effectiveness of passive cleaning strategies, such as varying the tilt angles (10°, 30°, and 45°), on reducing dust accumulation was assessed. Two sets of panels were used to achieve this goal: one was cleaned biweekly, and the other was left uncleaned for 9 weeks. Analysis of the physical properties of the collected dust showed that the 45° tilted panel accumulated 46% less dust mass with a 27% smaller mean particle diameter than the 10° tilted panel. However, tilt angle did not significantly affect the morphological and chemical properties, with dust primarily consisting of quartz (SiO 2 ) and calcite (CaCO 3 ). The uncleaned 45° panel exhibited the lowest energy drop due to soiling, with a 29% loss, significantly outperforming the 10° and 30° uncleaned panels, which experienced losses of 60% and 54%, respectively. Interestingly, the thermal properties of dust led to a 16%–20% average temperature reduction in dusty panels compared to the clean panels over the last 20 days. These findings suggest that in dust‐prone regions, setting PV panel tilt angles higher than the optimal angle for clean conditions is an effective passive strategy to reduce dust accumulation, thereby extending cleaning intervals and lowering operating costs.