Author(s)

Alima Dajuma^1*, Saleye Yahaya², Siaka Touré³, Arona Diedhiou⁴, Rabani Adamou^1,5, Abdourahamane Konaré⁶, Mariama Sido², Michel Golba⁷

¹WASCAL MRP Climate Change and Energy, Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger.
²Centre National d’Energie Solaire, CNES, Niamey, Niger.
³Laboratoire d’Energie Solaire, Université Félix Houphouet Boigny, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
⁴LTHE-IRD, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France.
⁵Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger.
⁶Centre d’Excellence Africain en Changement Climatique, Biodiversité et Agriculture Durable (CCBAD), Université Félix Houphouet Boigny, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
⁷Energy and Semiconductor Research Laboratory, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.

Energy demand is increasing while we are facing a depletion of fossils fuels, the main source of energy production in the world. These last years, photovoltaic (PV) system technologies are growing rapidly among alternative sources of energy to contribute to mitigation of climate change. However, PV system efficiency researches operating under West African weather conditions are nascent. The first objective of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of common monocrystalline PV efficiency to local meteorological parameters (temperature, humidity, solar radiation) in two contrasted cities over West Africa: Niamey (Niger) in a Sahelian arid area and Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) in atropical humid area. The second objective is to quantify the effect of dust accumulation on PV efficiency in Niamey (Niger). The preliminary results show that PV efficiency is more sensitive to high temperature change especially under Niamey climate conditions (warmer than Abidjan) where high ambient temperatures above 33°C lead to an important decrease of PV efficiency. Increase of relative humidity induces a decrease of PV efficiency in both areas (Niamey and Abidjan). A power loss up to 12.46% is observed in Niamey after 21 days of dust accumulation.

Solar Energy, PV Efficiency, Temperature, Dust, Humidity, Niamey, Abidjan

Dajuma, A. , Yahaya, S. , Touré, S. , Diedhiou, A. , Adamou, R. , Konaré, A. , Sido, M. and Golba, M. (2016) Sensitivity of Solar Photovoltaic Panel Efficiency to Weather and Dust over West Africa: Comparative Experimental Study between Niamey (Niger) and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire). Computational Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, 5, 123-147. doi: 10.4236/cweee.2016.54012.