Can waterless cleaning remove dust from solar panels?

MIT engineers have now developed a waterless cleaning method to remove dust on solar installations in water-limited regions, improving overall efficiency. The new system uses electrostatic repulsion to cause dust particles to detach and virtually leap off the panel’s surface, without the need for water or brushes.

Which cleaning technique is best for solar PV panels?

The TOPSIS method is employed to compare the cleaning techniques and rank them from most favored to least favored. Manual cleaning of the PV panels is the highest ranked cleaning technique according to the TOPSIS ranking. The efficiency and power output of photovoltaic (PV) panels are vital to the solar PV plant.

Can solar panels be cleaned?

Dust that accumulates on solar panels is a major problem, but washing the panels uses huge amounts of water. MIT engineers have now developed a waterless cleaning method to remove dust on solar installations in water-limited regions, improving overall efficiency. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

How to clean PV panels?

In this method, cleaning is done by using a porous surface on the outer layer. The principle of this method is to paint the PV surface with a hydrophobic coating and a thin layer acting as a barrier, which makes the water collect on the surface of the panel cannot stick to the surface because of this barrier.

How to clean photovoltaic modules?

Traditional cleaning methods, including mechanical method, manual method, and electrostatic method, can temporarily clean photovoltaic modules. However, dust still accumulates on the surface of photovoltaic modules after a period of time.

How to maintain high efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panels?

Several soiling mitigation solutions and cleaning techniques have been developed to maintain high efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panels. First of its kind, the investigation of the adaptability of the cleaning systems to solar trackers has been performed.