Economic consequences based on reversible and irreversible degradation of PV park in the harsh climate conditions of Iraq

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) system reliability and durability investigations are essential for industrial maturity and economic success. Recently, PV systems received much interest in Iraq due to many reasons—for instance, power shortage, global warming and pollution. Despite this interest, the precise economic implications of PV system reliability in harsh climates like Iraq remain uncertain. This work assesses the economic implications of PV system component reliability and soiling in Iraq using field experience and historical data. This study identifies the most common failure modes of PV systems installed in Iraq and similar climatic regions, and also ranks their severity. Simulations explore scenarios of PV module degradation rates, inverter lifetimes, soiling rates, and cleaning intervals, revealing that soiling has the most detrimental effect, with cleaning frequency leading to Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) losses of over 30%, depending on the location. Inverter lifetime contributes to LCOE losses between 4 and 6%, depending on the PV system’s location. This study also evaluates the impact of tilt angle as a mitigation strategy for reducing soiling loss and its economic implications, finding that installing PV modules at higher tilt angles could reduce the economic impact of soiling by approximately 4.4%. Additionally, the optimal cleaning strategy identified is fully automated dry cleaning with robots, outperforming other strategies economically. Overall, the findings highlight that the LCOE in Iraq is relatively high compared to the global weighted average for utility-scale PV systems, primarily due to high soiling and degradation rates. The LCOE varies within the country, influenced by different degradation rates. This study aims to assist PV stakeholders in Iraq and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in accurately estimating solar bankability; moreover, increasing reliability by minimizing the technical and financial risks by considering key parameters specific to these regions.