University of Sharjah research unveils efficient cleaning schedule for desert solar PV panels

A multidisciplinary team, led by researchers from the University of Sharjah in the UAE, has come up with an innovative way to improve cleaning schedules for PV panels in desert solar power setups. Honestly, this new model tackles a pretty big problem—dust buildup in dry areas, which seriously cuts down solar panel efficiency and reduces energy production.

They tested out their model with data from a 10 MW solar farm located in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. This particular plant is quite sprawling—covering around 210,000 square meters and holding 87,780 PV modules arranged across 4,389 rows. It typically produces about 17,564 MWh of electricity each year. Because desert environments have specific soil and dust accumulation rates—anywhere from 0.02% up to 0.9% daily—the researchers carefully incorporated these variations into their approach.

Their methodology uses a commercial optimization tool called CPLEX, employing a mixed-integer programming (or MIP) framework. Basically, it combines lots of variables: environmental factors like sunlight intensity, temperature, dust deposition rates, along with operational details such as cleaning costs and energy tariffs—set at $0.10 per kWh in their case study. The goal? To find the sweet spot where the costs caused by dust-induced energy loss and the expenses for cleaning are balanced as efficiently as possible.

To make their simulations more realistic, they zeroed in on a section of the solar park—specifically, 40 rows with 100 panels each. They ran scenarios assuming two robotic cleaners operating over a tree-side 90-day period, with cleaning intervals ranging anywhere from every 3 days to once every 20 days. They tested cleaning costs at two different rates: $0.012 and $0.05 per square meter, to see how these figures might influence the overall strategies.

When they analyzed the results, the most effective approach turned out to be cleaning three rows each day. They found that each row was cleaned between five and nine times across the whole 90 days, with most rows averaging around six to seven cleanings. Overall, cleaning expenses went from roughly $4,833 up to nearly $7,987, depending on how much they charged per square meter.

Now, the significance of these findings is pretty clear—dust affects not just how much energy is lost but also how costly cleaning is, especially in harsh desert conditions. The researchers believe their model can be a useful decision-making tool for policymakers and industry operators in the UAE, offering recommendations that can be tailored depending on budget constraints or different operational priorities.

Of course, they also note that their model isn’t perfect. There’s about a 21.65% gap from the absolute optimal solution, and it relies on soiling data specific to hot desert climates without accounting for real-time changes. Plus, they haven’t yet validated the model with additional tools like PVsyst or SCADA systems—so there’s definitely room for future refinement.

This work was published under the title “Optimising the cleaning plan of a solar PV system plant” in the journal Sustainable Futures. The study benefited from collaborations with the University of Jean-Monnet in France and the University of Tunis El Manar in Tunisia.

In the bigger picture, there’s a growing interest worldwide in optimizing PV cleaning strategies, especially when it comes to making solar power more viable in dusty, resource-scarce regions. For example, some teams have developed Particle Swarm Algorithm models that incorporate environmental data like solar radiation and wind speed to economically fine-tune cleaning intervals. Meanwhile, a project from Algeria’s Université de Ghardaia introduced a cost-effective, smart cleaning scoring system that helps make real-time decisions without needing vast historical data—a pretty smart approach, I think.

On the commercial side, companies such as Germany’s Virtuous-Re GmbH have released software like the PVradar Cleaning App, which models soiling losses and evaluates the benefits of cleaning quantitatively. These tools aim to cut cleaning costs and boost the profitability of PV plants.

Overall, understanding and addressing soiling losses is key to keeping solar farms in desert environments—like the UAE—operationally efficient and economically sustainable. Researches looking at different climates and cleaning methods, including comparative studies of solar tower plants in Australia, show that well-optimized cleaning schedules can really improve performance and reduce costs.

By combining operational data with environmental and financial models, the University of Sharjah’s work marks a great step forward in managing desert solar PV plants. Integrating these types of sophisticated optimization models into broader energy plans could help the UAE not only meet but boost its renewable energy goals, moving toward a more resilient and sustainable energy future.

Source: Noah Wire Services