Technical Review on Dust Removal Materials and Technologies for Solar Panels Maintainance

The prefeasibility studies, related to the development of PV (photovoltaic) powerplants, are usually based on the estimated energy production form these facilities. The produced energy depends both on the amount of solar radiation and on the specifics of the local geographic and atmospheric conditions. Meanwhile, large number of industrial enterprises are serious generators of dust particles, as a result of their activities. With the appropriate wind speed and direction, these particles can be carried and accumulated over various parts of the surrounding topology or over the solar panel systems. This accumulation, combined with high relative humidity or rain and snowfall, results in the formation of thin non-transparent layer, which hardens over time and can significantly reduce the energy production of the power park by at least 10%. This necessitates the use of different technologies and materials for cleaning the panels, which should be effective, not damaging the absorbent surface of the panels, as well as ensuring sustainable clean surface, when using them. In the presented work, the existing and innovative panel cleaning materials and technologies, which operate in highly dusty environments, are selected and critically analyzed. Conclusions in terms of their effectiveness and applicability is carried out, based on predefined and described methodology.