Impacts of Cloud Cover and Dust on the Performance of Photovoltaic Module in Niamey

The sensitivity of monocrystalline solar module towards dust accumulation and cloud cover is investigated from May to August 2015 for Niamey’s environment. Two solar modules with the same characteristics have been used to assess the impacts of the dust on the solar PV module. One of the modules is being cleaned every morning and the second one was used for monitoring the effect of dust accumulation onto the surface of the unclean module for May and June. Results show that dust accumulation has a great effect on decreasing the daily energy yield of the unclean module. But this effect is a long-term effect. For the cloud cover, the effect is immediate. It was estimated that exposing the module into the environment in 23 days in June 2015 has reduced the daily energy yield by 15.29%. This limitation makes solar PV an unreliable source of power for remote devices and thus strongly suggests the challenges of cleaning the module’s surface regularly.