Hazy skies and dusty cars: Many people are well acquainted with the impact of the Saharan dust that travels to Europe by air. The impact of this dust – as haze in the atmosphere and as a residue onsolar panels – on the performance of photovoltaic (PV) systems is being studiedby the German Weather Service, the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) and meteocontrol in a project called "PerduS". The objective of the research is to facilitate better performance predictions for PV systems by improving projections about the dispersion of dust.
很多人都很熟悉雾霾引起的灰暗阴霾天空和蒙尘的车辆，在欧洲也是如此。雾霾影响下，空气中的颗粒以及太阳能面板上沙尘残留会对光伏发电系统性能造成的影响。目前，德国正在进行一项名为“PerduS”的研究项目，主要是研究沙尘暴侵袭过程中，空气中的悬浮颗粒以及太阳能面板上沙尘残留对于光伏发电系统性能造成的影响，Deutscher Wetterdienst（DWD）德国气象局，Karlsruhe科学研究院（KIT）以及meteocontrol GMBH. 都被邀参与。目的是通过提高对沙尘散布趋势的推测，从而提供更准确的光伏系统发电量预测。
Saharan dust affects PV performance in two ways: First, the haze it creates, which can be substantial at times, can reduce performance by 10 percent to 20 percent. Second, it forms a residue on the PVmodules that further impacts performance. These findings were reached during the preliminary studies conducted by the project partners.
项目成员在初步研究中获得以下结论，撒哈拉沙尘将通过两种方式来影响光伏性能：第一，其造成的尘霾有时会非常严重，可能会使光伏面板发电性能降低10%到20%。第二，沙尘在光伏组件上的残留将影响其长期发电性能。
"During an outbreak of Saharan dust, atmospheric streams transport the dust whipped up by the Sahara over great distances that extend all the way to central Europe," says Dr. BernhardVogel, a KIT meteorologist. "In terms of a long-range average, we see thisfour days a month in the spring and summer. In some years, the number evenreaches up to nine days in a month."
“沙哈拉沙尘的爆发过程中，沙漠中上升的沙尘随气流运动一路散布到欧洲中部，”来自KIT的气象学家Bernhard Vogel博士说，“长期来看，每年春夏平均一个月会持续四天这种现象，在某些年份，可能达到九天。”
Photovoltaic systems generated 6 percent of gross electricity production in Germany during 2015, according to the GermanStatistical Office. The installed capacity of all PV systems totals about 39 gigawatts across Germany. As a result, the systems can produce peak yields of more than 30 gigawatts of power on clear days. This equals the production of more than 20 German nuclear power stations. Up to now, PV performance predictions have been unable to realistically factor in the effect of Saharan dust.The project team says this is necessary to ensure grid stability.
德国数据局显示，2015年光伏电力系统产生的电量大约占总发电量的6%。德国安装的光伏系统总量达到39GW。因此，在没有雾霾的日子，这些系统可以产生高达30GW的发电量，相当于20座德国核电站的发电量。目前的光伏发电预测系统尚无法准确预测沙尘影响，因此该项目的设立对于保障电网稳定性而言非常必要。
The German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energyis funding the research project PerduS (a German acronym that stands for photovoltaic yield reduction caused by Saharan dust) for four years. The main objective is to combine all components necessary for consideration of Saharan dust outbreaks when projecting PV performance in a forecasting process. In cooperation with KIT, an improved dispersion forecast for desert dust is being added to the German Weather Service's numerical weather-forecasting model ICON.The ICON-ART forecast system will be used during future dust outbreaks along with the conventional numerical weather forecast. Simulating dust dispersion, the system will provide predictions about a reduction in solar irradiance.Drawing on this information, the forecast service provider meteocontrol will develop PV performance predictions as well as evaluate the technical and commercial use of the new forecasting system. In addition, an estimate will be made regarding the expected amount of residue on PV systems left behind by the Saharan dust and the cleansing effect on the units by subsequent rain storms.
德国经济事务和能源部已经资助PerduS研究项目四年，其主要目的在于将撒哈拉沙尘爆发时的各种影响因素纳入现有的光伏发电预测系统。目前，KIT已将一项改进过的沙尘分布预报模型加入德国气象局的数据天气预测模型ICON中。ICON-ART预测系统将会被运用在未来的沙尘暴爆发以及传统数据天气预测中。通过模拟沙尘分布，系统将会预测太阳辐照度波动。预测服务提供商meteocontrol将会通过这些数据来开发新的光伏功率预测系统，并对该系统的技术和商业应用开展评估。此外，还会产生一份有关可预期的撒哈拉沙尘残留以及被后续风雨冲洗后各单元的效率的预估数据报告。
