Soiling

India’s Prasham Greens has designed water-draining clamps to drain the water accumulated on the edges of the solar panels after rains and water-based cleaning.

India’s TriNANO Technologies has developed a nanocoating for solar modules that reportedly increases the panel’s power generation by up to 4% owing to its light trapping, anti-reflection and self-cleaning properties. It also lowers the panel temperature by 2-3 degrees Celsius compared to non-coated panels. 

Scientists from the Vellore Institute of Technology in India carried out a comprehensive study into the impacts of soiling on PV modules – measuring the amount of performance loss caused by different types of dust and bird droppings, and for modules installed at various tilt angles, in the hot-dry climate of Vellore in southern India. Their findings could allow developers to better take into account and mitigate the effects of soiling during site selection and system design.

A research group in Ghana has conducted a series of tests to assess the performance of polycrystalline solar modules in PV systems operating in their home country for at least 5 years. They found that the vast majority of the panels may ‘fail’ before 20 years in operation under outdoor conditions.

A study conducted in the semi-arid weather conditions of Ben Guerir, Morocco, evaluated the performance of antistatic and hydrophobic coatings for photovoltaic solar panels. After nine months of operation, the PV panels with coatings developed by Portuguese company ChemiTek produced an average of 3% more energy than the uncoated ones.

Scientists have used the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) HOMER software to calculate the degradation of solar panels deployed in two rooftop PV systems operating in Germany since 2003. Their calculations focused on the energy productivity of the systems.

A new report by the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA-PVPS) estimates that lost revenue from PV module soiling amounts to more than €3 billion ($3.2 billion) per year – an amount that is only set to increase as PV systems grow larger and more efficient.

Enray Solutions has developed an autonomous, water-free cleaning robot for ground-mount solar installations that draws its power from an on-board PV panel and battery. The robot is designed to withstand the harsh environmental conditions of all kinds of terrain.

Bangalore-based Nunam—which enables second life for used lithium-ion battery cells—is the winner of Pulse India competition conducted by French energy giant EDF. The EDF contest aims at supporting Indian startups committed to developing low-carbon and sustainable energy solutions.  

The super-hydrophobic coating using functional nanoparticles repels dust deposition on the solar panels and cleans itself by the action of water on the modules.