This white paper discusses self cleaning technologies for solar panels to reduce contamination and maintaining high levels of efficiency in all climate zones, and especially within hot and dust-intensive arid countries. In the paper we review some existing self cleaning technologies for solar panels as well as emerging methods to solve the problem.
3 major types of cleaning methods are discussed:
- Robotics
- Passive self-cleaning using surface energy-controlled coatings and photocatalytic coatings
- Active self-cleaning, using electrostatic and ultrasonic energy
Robotics could be an effective means of providing self cleaning technologies for solar panels but use huge amounts of precious water resources, and could damage solar panel surfaces; passive coatings could help the issue but quite temporary and need additional cleaning or frequent recoating; active self-cleaning is the most promising technology to provide 24/7 automated cleaning which could save boost overall energy generation and reduce cost of operation.
This paper is targeted to
- Solar panel producers
- Solar cells producers
- Glass makers
- Semiconductor foundries
The author of the paper is Dr. Boris Kobrin, Senior Associate Analyst at n-tech Research
