Self cleaning solar panels can harvest more solar power
24 August 2010 | Solar Power | No Comments
Trying to come up with a solution for dusty solar panels today, researchers have presented a new technology, simply called dust-cleaning technology, able to increase solar power production.
Most of today’s solar power plants are placed in large sunny areas where rains are very rare. In these places photovoltaic panels get often covered with a layer of dust, so their efficiency decreases.
“A dust layer of one-seventh of an ounce per square yard decreases solar power conversion by 40 percent…In Arizona, dust is deposited each month at about 4 times that amount. Deposition rates are even higher in the Middle East, Australia, and India.”, said Malay K. Mazumde, one of the researchers who participated in this study.
First used by NASA, the new technology consist in a self-cleaning coating on the surface of photovoltaic panels. We are talking here about a thin transparent material, that can be applied on the surface of photovoltaic systems of any sizes. This material is electrically charged, so every time when sensors detect dust on its surface, the electricity sweeps away all those unwanted particles.
“Our technology can be used in both small- and large-scale photovoltaic systems. To our knowledge, this is the only technology for automatic dust cleaning that doesn’t require water or mechanical movement.”, K. Mazumde said.
Tags: dust cleaning, photovoltaic panels, self cleaning coating, self cleaning solar panels, solar panels, Solar Power