Use of Evolutionary Algorithm for Identifying Quantitative Impact of PM2.5 and PM10 on PV Power Generation

This publication presents the impact of PM10, PM2.5, and cloudiness on the power that is generated by photovoltaic panels—the actual photovoltaic power was measured. Weather parameters that were recorded by a weather station were taken into account, and the dependencies between the weather parameters and the power that was generated by PV panels were determined. This study was based on actual data from a solar cell set and was designed to allow a certain size of a PV system to be able to supply power to a given load. For the entire measurement year, data on PM10, PM2.5, cloudiness, and generated power were collected; by using a genetic algorithm, the influence of the environmental parameters on the power that was generated by the PV panels was calculated. The research shows the influence of anthropogenic factors on the power that is generated by PV panels. It was observed that PM2.5 and PM10 air pollution decreased the power by about 16% among the analyzed factors as they were related to cloudiness. The impact of the pollution was stable over the year in the analyzed location.