Soiling measurement station to evaluate anti-soiling properties of PV module coatings

Application of dust mitigation strategies to single‐axis‐tracking photovoltaic modules in the semi‐arid areas of South Africa

“…Therefore, the results regarding the hydrophobic coating applied to the stationary modules are inconclusive. These results correlate with the research findings of Gostein et al [18] discussed in Section 2.…”

“…Similar to the anti‐soiling coatings used by Gostein et al [18], the coating utilised by Ota et al [30] also had strong anti‐reflective properties. With the research executed on a rooftop installed PV system, at the University of Miyazaki, Japan, a performance increase of 3.2% was obtained.…”

“…Other dust removal strategies also consider the use of water sprinkler systems [15], strategic placement of PV systems utilising wind movement to displace dust particles [16], variations in tilt angles to incentivise dust displacement [17] and anti‐soiling coatings [18]. Finally, another dust removal strategy, unique to solar tracking systems, is the use of mechanical movement, which allow brushes to move across the module surface as modules are rotated by the tracking system.…”

“…The difference in the performance of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic anti-soiling coatings was investigated by Gostein et al [18]. Their research utilised commercially available anti-reflective hydrophobic and hydrophilic coatings, which were applied to four PV modules at a test station in southern California, USA.…”

“…For instance, a PR of 0.98, as determined for a specific PV module on a certain day, indicates a 2% decline in the average power delivered for the measured period. The PR relative value, as defined by (18), is used to evaluate relative PV module performance. From this equation, variables A and B represent the PR values of two different PV modules.…”