Predicting Photovoltaic Soiling From Air Quality Measurements

Ambient particulate matter in urban environments is dynamic and heterogeneous; therefore, understanding photovoltaic energy loss due to soiling is challenging. Silicon reference cells were deployed in an urban-industrial area in Colorado colocated with measurements of ambient particulate matter concentrations. Regressing measured soiling ratios against cumulative sums of ambient coarse particulate matter since the last precipitation event and ambient fine particulate matter since the first day of deployment produces a root-mean-square error of approximately 0.013. This model partially addresses the challenge of quantifying the relationships between ambient air quality and photovoltaic soiling.