Evaluation of the 2013 Southeast Asian Haze on Solar Generation Performance

Mohammadreza Maghami; Hashim Hizam; Chandima Gomes; Shahrooz Hajighorbani; Nima Rezaei

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135118

Evaluation of the 2013 Southeast Asian Haze on Solar Generation Performance

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 14;10(8):e0135118. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135118. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Mohammadreza Maghami¹, Hashim Hizam¹, Chandima Gomes², Shahrooz Hajighorbani¹, Nima Rezaei¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia; Centre of Advanced Power and Energy Research (CAPER), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
² Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

Pollution in Southeast Asia is a major public energy problem and the cause of energy losses. A significant problem with respect to this type of pollution is that it decreases energy yield. In this study, two types of photovoltaic (PV) solar arrays were used to evaluate the effect of air pollution. The performance of two types of solar arrays were analysed in this research, namely, two units of a 1 kWp tracking flat photovoltaic (TFP) and two units of a 1 kWp fixed flat photovoltaic arrays (FFP). Data analysis was conducted on 2,190 samples at 30 min intervals from 01st June 2013, when both arrays were washed, until 30th June 2013. The performance was evaluated by using environmental data (irradiation, temperature, dust thickness, and air pollution index), power output, and energy yield. Multiple regression models were predicted in view of the environmental data and PV array output. Results showed that the fixed flat system was more affected by air pollution than the tracking flat plate. The contribution of this work is that it considers two types of photovoltaic arrays under the Southeast Asian pollution 2013.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Pollution*
Asia, Southeastern
Solar Energy*

Grants and funding

This study was funded by Universiti Putra Malaysia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.