Evaluation of solar PV panel performance under humid atmosphere

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to study the effects of humidity on the PV panel. In this paper, the panel performance was studied in the laboratory under varied humid atmosphere. The PV performance parameters were computed by measuring its output voltage and current, amount of solar radiation incident on the panel's surface and its surface temperature by varying humidity levels artificially in the laboratory. From the studies it was observed that with rising humidity levels, solar insolation and panel power output decrease. With an increment of 50.15% in the humidity level, the panel power output reduces by 34.22%. Moreover, it was found that due to the increase in humidity from 65.40% to 98.20% the panel temperature got lowered by 11.40%. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.