Experimental Procedures
摘要
This chapter describes the experimental procedures adopted to evaluate soiling effects on a 3.9 kWp PV plant (LEA2), located in the city of Fortaleza, Brazilian semi-arid. The study begins with the site environmental characterization, considering meteorological data from the period 2012 to 2022, which allows for an understanding of the seasonal behavior and natural cleaning mechanisms experienced by the analyzed PV plant. Sequentially, LEA2 PV plant configuration and the system for acquiring and monitoring operational and environmental data are presented. Additionally, PV modules manual cleaning procedures are described, detailing the tools used, the execution steps, and the operational constraints imposed by the plant layout. A long-term cleaning schedule (2023–2025) is established to allow for a comparative evaluation between naturally cleaned and manually cleaned strings. Finally, analytical guidelines and performance metrics are presented, including relative generation difference, capacity factor, and performance ratio, used to quantify the impact of soiling and cleaning events under different seasonal conditions. Hence, this chapter provides a methodological framework for the experimental evaluation of soiling effects under real operating conditions, enabling a robust performance analysis of PV systems.