The Impact of Air Pollution on The Performance of Solar Photovoltaic Cells: A Case Study in Baghdad City, Iraq

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of air pollution due to dust storms on a sustainable source to generate photovoltaic electricity (PV) modules and estimate if the efficiency of the modules could be affected by air pollution. The study is located in Baghdad Province, Waziriya district/ Iraq where training and Energy Research building depends on PV modules for electricity generation. There was a substantial demand to study the effect of accumulated dust on (PV) modules because of the frequency of dust storms in the region due to air pollution and climate change. It was observed that the performance of (PV) modules is considerably affected by dust on the surfaces of such devices by air pollution. The study indicates that there is decreasing in power by as much as 8 % in solar (PV) modules that are left unclean for two weeks in comparison with modules which be cleaned daily.