New research from Hungary shows that Sarahan substance events can reduce the PV power output in five Mediterranean countries by an average of 25-40%. The scientists emphasized the need for recording real-time dust monitoring and cloud interactions in predicting solar energy.
Researchers from the Hungary’s their-Ring Center for Astronomy and Earth Sciences have the impact of Saharan Dust Storm events on PV current generation in Portugal, Spain, Spain, France, Italy and Greece and have discovered that these events can reduce the electricity yield up to 50%.
The research team in particular analyzed the effects of Saharan Dust Storm events that took place from 2019 to 2023 on PV current generation in these five Southern European countries by using the day-head presteck data from the transparency platform of the European network of transmission system operators (ETSO-E).
The scientists also used the modern retrospective analysis for research and applications (MERRA-2) Her analysis data set of the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data Information Services Center to measure radiation, cloud reflection and atmospheric dust load.
They also used satellite measurements to assess the percentage of cloud cover and cloud top temperature, as well as hour of radiation data from Copernicus Cams V4.6, an ultramodern European emission inventory for high resolution for air quality modeling, to analyze the cloud effect on irradiation for each period.
“Both per hour and daily data were used; daily values supported long-term analysis of dust effects PV Production, “they explained.” Intense dust events were studied using data on dust mass hours, air mass trajectories, synoptic conditions, satelliteaerosol profiles and model forecasts to assess their effects. “
Based on this analysis, the academics discovered that Saharan dust events lead to a “monotone” decrease in the percentage of PV stream production with increasing massive column concentrations of Saharan fabric in all five countries considered, with the average reduction 25-40%.
They also found that if the dust mirror was extremely high, the country with the highest PV loss of the electricity generation was Greece, with an average of 20.1-40.9%, followed by France with 4.4-40.5%, Italy with 13.9-36.8%, Portugugal with 10.1-29.3%and Spain with 16.1-9.3%.
The scientists warned that real Saharan -dust events can easily exceed these estimates. In fact, they explained that the current PV predictions of the day are often inaccurate when it comes to assessing these complex events.
“In particular, increased substance conditions led to consistent underestimation (up to -15%) in Portugal and Spain and over estimates (up to +10%) in Italy and Greece,” they emphasized. “These inaccuracies underline the urgent need for prediction improvements with advanced aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions and real-time dust monitoring.”
Their findings are available in the newspaper “The shadow of the wind: the impact of Saharan substance on photovoltaic power generation in the Mediterranean Sea“Published in Renewable energy. “Given the expected increase in the frequency and intensity of Saharan dust events among scenarios for climate change, this study strongly emphasizes the integration of dust-related uncertainties in the planning of renewable energy.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to work with us and reuse part of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
