PV module cleaner

Sunpure will supply Larsen & Toubro with over 1,500 water-free cleaning robots for an 805 MWp solar project in Saudi Arabia.

Airtouch Solar Group has launched a cleaning solution for utility-scale solar PV plants to provide autonomous, water-free panel surface cleaning. The 4-meter cleaning unit weighs less than 40 kg and is commonly utilized in arid and dusty locations.

Airtouch Solar will supply and install its dry-cleaning robots for PV panels in ReNew projects. It will also provide operation and maintenance support for 25 years.

Qatari researchers have looked at the degree to which cleaning robots reduce PV plants’ yield with the shade they produce on the panels. They found that module orientation has an enormous effect on the impact of shadow.

Nick Lanir Brown, chief business officer at Airtouch Solar, told pv magazine they would supply and install Airtouch AT 4.0 robotic panel cleaning systems for Adani Green Energy’s solar farm in Rajasthan.

A Jordanian research team has designed a cleaning technique for solar modules that uses static electricity to remove dust from panel surfaces. The system features an electrostatic ionizer that reduces attraction between dust particles and their accumulation on modules, improving their energy yield.

Israel-based Airtouch Solar has signed a $3 million deal with Indian developer ReNew for the supply and maintenance of PV panel cleaning robots.

Kärcher, a German company with expertise in cleaning solutions for all industries, has introduced its PV panel-cleaning solutions focusing on the pain points of the Indian solar sector. The range includes high-pressure cleaners, water-driven disc brushes, cleaning detergents, and even safety gear for operation and maintenance professionals.

South African researchers have developed a new cleaning system for solar panels that uses a color-sensing light-to-frequency converter to detect dirt. It can reportedly remove around 95% of the dust from a PV panel in less than a minute, at a lower cost than other systems.

Enray Solutions has developed an autonomous, water-free cleaning robot for ground-mount solar installations that draws its power from an on-board PV panel and battery. The robot is designed to withstand the harsh environmental conditions of all kinds of terrain.