Impact of Soiling on Transparency of Different Glass Types: A Comparative Study

To improve the optical properties of photovoltaic (PV) modules, many manufacturers use new glass surface structures that reduce glare. However, these modifications can increase susceptibility to soiling. This research presents a new method for assessing soiling by positioning glasses without solar cells on a reference PV module. With this method, the soiling of the glasses can be measured without the systematic measurement uncertainties from the power or irradiance measurement negatively affecting the measurement accuracy. To demonstrate the method, five glass types are tested at four tilt angles at three locations. In this paper, the preliminary results are presented together with the soiling data after two months at a selected site.