Effects of environmental and climatic conditions on PV efficiency in qatar

The sensitivity of various solar photovoltaic technologies towards dust, temperature and relative humidity is investigated for Qatar�s environment. Results obtained show that dust accumulation has the great effect on decreasing Amorphous and Mono-crystalline PV�s efficiency than the panel�s temperature augmentation or relative humidity. The study shows that Amorphous PVs are more robust against dust settlement than Mono-crystalline PVs and hence are more suitable for implementation in desert climates like Qatar. It was estimated that 100 days of dust accumulation over Mono-crystalline PV panels, caused the efficiency to decrease by 10%. This limitation makes solar PV an unreliable source of power for unattended or remote devices and thus strongly suggests the challenge of cleaning the panel�s surface regularly or injecting technical modifications. Also, the study assesses how best to operate solar PV plants during peak sunlight hours to optimize production and minimize the sun�s harsh effects.Scopu