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The study of the paper aims to present a solar power plant performances and economic benefits of 16.28 kWp grid-tied solar PV systems under the real outdoor conditions of Ghardaïa, located in semi-arid area of the Algeria desert. The main goal of this study is to investigate the effectiveness, suitability, feasibility and reliably of these plants on the level of desert areas and under the influence of harsh conditions (desert environment) in the first part. In the second part, the contribution of solar PV plant to conventional networks in the arid and semi-arid environment to assess the rate of integration. Based on experimental measurement data, the paper also shows economic benefits of three photovoltaic plants. It was found that from the first January to last August 2019, the total produced energy by all PV arrays was 171.422 MWh which supplied to the internal grid and while, the consumed energy by the URAER unit was 159,094 kWh. Approximately 10, 95 % of the 159,094 MWh energy consumed in the whole year is provided from the generated PV solar energy that is 17,422 MWh. The total energy fed to the internal grid has grown from 27 MWh in 05/04/2018 to a maximum of 67.28 MWh recorded in 31/10/2019. The rate of integration of solar energy by all PV arrays in the internal network of the URAER varied between 6, 60% in January and 22, 96% in April. The integration of this renewable energy generation into the local grid in the URAER unit considered satisfactory over this period of operation. From the first January to last August 2019, the cost of electrical energy produced by solar plants is 2090,64 euro(277706,68 Algerian dinars) while the cost of energy consumed by the Applied Research Unit in renewable energies is 4772,82 euro(664853,826 Algerian dinars). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many climatic conditions have a negative impact on production of photovoltaic (PV) systems, and sand dust could be one of the main reasons of degradation of PV panels. The objective of this study is to investigate the reduction in the electrical performance caused by sandstorm and the accumulation of sand dust on the photovoltaic module surface installed in the Saharan area of south Algeria (Adrar). For this purpose, four PV modules (ISO-100/24) were selected and their current-voltage characteristics were measured to evaluate the sand dust effect on their performances. Our results show that sandstorm and dust accumulation on the surface of the module reduce the performance in terms of energy and power, due to a decrease of the transmittance. Obtained outcomes show that in sandstorm periods, the particle deposition density is much higher. This study reveals that leaving PV module without any cleaning in the Saharan environmental conditions significantly reduces PV power output, in addition to the presence of the shading mismatch effects in case of partial cleaning.