Contribution to the building of a weather information service for solar panel cleaning operations at Diass plant (Senegal, Western Sahel)

Abstract

The accumulation of dust on the surface of solar panels reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the solar cells and results in a decrease in panel performance. To avoid this loss of production and thus, to improve the performance capacity, solar panels must be cleaned frequently. The West African region is well known for its high solar energy potential. However, this potential can be reduced by the high occurrence of dust storms during the year. This article aims to provide a contribution to the construction of a meteorological information service for solar panel cleaning operations at Diass solar plant in Senegal (Western Sahel). It is based on a full year in situ experiment comparing the power loss due to dust between solar panels cleaned at different frequencies and those not cleaned. The model to determine the cleaning frequencies is based on the deposition rate of airborne particles, the concentration of airborne particles, and the density of the dust that has a major impact on the power loss. Cleaning frequencies are presented at seasonal scale because in the study area, dust episodes differ according to the seasons. A cost–benefit analysis is also performed to demonstrate the advantage of using weather information service to support the dust cleaning operations at Diass plant. As results, it is found that cleaning every 3 weeks is required during the dry seasons, December–January–February and March–April–May. During the rainy season, cleaning every 5 weeks is recommended in June–July–August, while in September–October–November cleaning every 4 weeks is sufficient to maintain an optimal performance of the solar panel. The total costs of cleaning operations based on these results are reduced compared to the current costs of cleaning and the benefits are much higher than without cleaning action.

Solar radiation estimation in West Africa: impact of dust conditions during 2021 dry season

“…Clauzel et al (2024) identified desert dust aerosol as a significant source of GHI forecast errors for the only two solar power plants in the Sahel region of Sococim (Senegal) and Zagtouli (Burkina Faso), particularly during the dry season. Dust aerosols are a key element in the West African climate and strongly influence solar farm production through their direct effect (aerosol-radiation interaction (ARI), Briant et al, 2017) and indirect effects (aerosolcloud interaction (ACI), Tuccella et al, 2019) on radiation, and also through their deposition on solar panels (fouling effect, Diop et al, 2020, Aidara et al, 2023. As mentioned by Kok et al (2021), the West African desert aerosol load is the highest in the world and occurs mainly during the dry season.…”