Solar panel cleaning

Sleepwalkers has introduced an automated robotic device for solar panel cleaning that doesn’t require an additional rail system as it can move on the aluminum frame of the panels.

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.

Nick Lanir Brown, chief business officer at Airtouch Solar, told pv magazine they would supply and install Airtouch AT 4.0 robotic panel cleaning systems for Adani Green Energy’s solar farm in Rajasthan.

Qatari researchers have looked at the degree to which cleaning robots could threaten the physical integrity of solar panels. They found that cleaning machines have a very minimal impact and that modules of similar sizes tend to exhibit roughly the same amount of vibration.

The Lotus A4000 cleaning robot, built with automotive-grade components, is a reliable and hassle-free solution to daily clean and maintain solar plants operating in harsh and arid regions.

India-based Solavio has developed Eco Bot portable and shareable robotic cleaning solution that is compatible with both ground-mount and rooftop PV installations.

Indian developer Avaada Group has selected Israeli robotic cleaning specialist Airtouch Solar for the maintenance of PV modules at its solar farms in Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The robotic cleaning contract between the two companies is pegged at around $2 million.

When choosing a solar power plant, individuals and businesses pay the most attention to its power – after all, this will determine how much electricity will be produced. Other equipment, systems and sensors that allow monitoring and analysis of the operation of the power plant are often underestimated. But they shouldn’t be: the solar power plant will be used for several decades, so various failures and poor-quality monitoring can have a significant impact on the efficiency of electricity production.

Bihar-based Husk Power Systems will use $6 million of newly acquired funds to build solar hybrid microgrids in 80 communities in rural India. The renewables services provider already owns and operates more than 120 microgrids in India.

Israel-based Airtouch Solar has signed a $940,000 contract with Indian developer Hero Future Energies, three weeks after securing a $440,000 project with another developer in India.