COMPARATIVE STUDY ON EFFECT OF HUMIDITY, WIND AND HARMATTAN DUST ON THE OUTPUT VOLTAGE OF SOLAR PANELS IN THE SAVANNAH AREA
Persistent power outage due to problem occurring on the transmission line, terrain and inadequate power generation in developing countries causes setback in economic activities. Alternative sources are needed to minimise these setback, especially using solar photovoltaic source. The aim of the study it to determine the relationship between wind speed, humidity and harmattan dust and output voltage of the photovoltaic cells. The output voltage of solar array, humidity and wind speed of the area were collected for 9am, 12pm and 4pm and six months (January to June 2021). February and April have the highest wind speed with maximum of 17km/hr and 19km/hr respectively. Maximum humidity occurs in June due to raining while March and May with 80V and 85V at 12pm are the highest output voltage recorded. These result show that output voltage is directly proportional to wind speed and inversely proportionality to humidity. This means, increase in wind speed and decrease in humidity increases the output voltage. Wind, humidity and dust deposition have great effect on the output voltage of solar photovoltaic cells. While wind and humidity also influence the rate of dust deposition which consequently affects the power output. This study will serve as feasibility study to policy makers and other stakeholders and additional knowledge for researchers.
Authors : Bello, A.U., Usman, A.M., Ali, Y., Alexander, C.M., Abdullahi, A. and Gadam, M.A.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 8(1) Date Uploaded : 6th August 2022