Effect of shading caused by dust on cadmium telluride photovoltaic modules

The effect of dust on Cadmium-Telluride photovoltaic (PV) thin film modules is investigated by the application of a spatial 3 dimensional model developed with the circuit analysis software PSPICE. The effect of dust concentration and tilt angle variation on the PV module’s performance was investigated. The probability of hotspots in different installation positions is investigated. The simulation results showed a reduction in the sample’s performance with increased dust concentration and reduced tilt angle. The variation between cell positions showed that a horizontal orientation of the cells has an increased risk of hotspots with cells with localized lower parallel resistances than cells identified with uniform high parallel resistance.