Hourly PV Power and Dust Accumulation Dataset — Laghouat, Algeria, February–August 2022

Hourly dataset from a six-month dual-panel photovoltaic soiling experiment at LACoSERE Laboratory, Amar Telidji University of Laghouat, Algeria (33.8°N, 2.9°E, 767 m a.s.l.), spanning 17 February to 17 August 2022.

Two identical SolarWorld SW-85 polycrystalline silicon modules were monitored continuously: one maintained clean (daily manual cleaning), one left exposed to natural dust accumulation. Dust surface density was quantified gravimetrically on 48 occasions using a KERN ABS 220-4N analytical balance (0.1 mg resolution) and surrogate glass collection plates; the sparse measurements were interpolated to hourly resolution using PCHIP interpolation.

The dataset contains 4,368 hourly records and 14 columns: local timestamp, measured and PCHIP-reconstructed dust surface density, ambient temperature, cell temperature (NOCT model), in-plane irradiance (G_POA), relative humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, precipitation, clean-panel power, dusty-panel power, and two normalised power columns. Meteorological variables are from Open-Meteo ERA5 reanalysis.

Dust density peaked at 22.54 g m⁻² in late June. Mean daytime power loss was 13.4%; maximum instantaneous loss was 29.7%.