Avaliação do Impacto de Sujidade de Módulos Fotovoltaicos na Geração de Energia Elétrica

Abstract

The Brazilian electrical matrix is composed mostly of hydraulic energy. However, due to the influence of climatic factors, there is a reduction in the generation of electricity through the hydroelectric plants each year, favoring the growth of other renewable energy sources. Among those, solar energy has low environmental impact and high production potential due to its availability. With the cheapening of photovoltaic systems of electric power generation, production of solar energy has grown worldwide, including in Brazil. However, the reduction of the electric power generation capacity caused by the deposit of dirt on the surfaces of the photovoltaic modules is generally not taken into account when estimating the cost of solar energy. Deposition of dust on the surface of a photovoltaic module attenuates the incident solar irradiance, causing losses of generated electric energy and economic losses, reducing the revenues or financial credits. Thus, this present work aims to develop an empirical mathematical model that estimates the reduction of the electric power generation capacity of the photovoltaic module from the characterization of dirt deposited on its surface. Based on this estimation, it will be possible to perform an economic feasibility of installing a more realistic photovoltaic system, since current economic analyzes overestimate the inflows and underestimate the outflows of the cash flow, producing optimistic analyzes for investors in this sector.