The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of climatic conditions on the performance of photovoltaic modules installed in the desert region in south of Algeria. Firstly, the performance of ISOFOTON 100 module under daily weather conditions is evaluated. Next, the effects of partial shading and accumulation of sand dust for a period of two months on power loss and the current-voltage characteristics of photovoltaic modules are examined. Finally, the visual inspection of the degradation of the UDTS 50 modules such as discoloration of encapsulant and delamination show the influence of high temperature and the other climatic factors in the Saharan environment after a long time exposure of more than 10 years observed in the field at the Unit of Research in Renewable energy URERMS Adrar. The performance degradation is also assessed using (I-V and P-V) curves normalized at SIC condition compared with the nominal STC data given by the manufacturer. The experimental results show that the performance parameters such as maximum output current (I-max), maximum output voltage (V-max), maximum power output (P-max), open-circuit voltage (V-oc), short-circuit current (I-sc) and fill factor (FF) of UDTS 50 modules are degraded after these years of exposition. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.