Near-ground impurity-free wind and wind-driven sand of photovoltaic power stations in a desert area

The ground mounted photovoltaic panel in desert areas is one of the best methods to get the solar energy. Unfortunately, there are no existing wind codes and standards to show the effect of impurity-free wind loads and wind-driven sand loads on ground mounted photovoltaic panels. It is necessary to investigate the characteristics of the impurity-free wind and wind-driven sand flow in desert areas. The characteristics of mean and fluctuating wind data are obtained from a 10 m-high tower set up in a desert photovoltaic power station, Zhongwei, China. The wind-driven sand flow fields in sandstorm climate are built to obtain the sand concentration profile and the impact pressure profile of sand particles using the wind tunnel testing. The sand concentration decreases exponentially with height under the lower wind speed and appears in the form of reverse “S” when the wind speed increases. The sand particles movement in the wind-driven sand flow reduces the wind speed and increases the turbulence intensity. To improve the output power and service life of photovoltaic panels in sandstorm climate, it is recommended that the installation height of photovoltaic panels should be 2 m.