Page 18 - North American Clean Energy May June 2015

solar energy

Solar in the Desert

Why water-free cleaning robots make economic sense

by Eran Meller

With global solar adoption rates
increasing rapidly—55 GW is

expected to be installed this
year alone—there are still a

number of obstacles the solar
Solar Foundations • Racking • Installations
industry needs to tackle before

it can become a larger portion
Cost effective solutions for ALL your solar foundations and mounting system needs.
of the energy mix. As panel
prices have bottomed out in
ACCOMMODATE
COMPETITIVE
FAST
PRECISION
recent years, there has been an
increasing interest in reducing Difficult Terrain
Pricing
Turnaround
Installation

“soft costs” to further lower the
price hurdles of solar power.
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chain logistics, inancing, BrilliantRack.com
installation, labor, operations,

and maintenance.

And while a recent report from the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

found that soft costs are in fact declining,
they still comprise more than half of a
solar system’s end cost. For long-term price
reductions that lower soft costs throughout

the 20-25 year life of the system, the
industry is focusing on improving
operations and maintenance (O&M)
procedures through unique technologies

and software.
One crucial O&M practice that is often
overlooked is solar panel cleaning. When
panels are not cleaned, soiling creates a

huge problem, cutting energy production
by up to 40 percent. And nowhere is soiling
more magniied than in the desert, where
dust storms can cause accumulations that

can block out half of the energy from the
sun’s rays.
Today, solar panel cleaning is typically
a labor-intensive process that requires

considerable water resources. For an
average 300 MW solar plant, owners
should expect to use approximately 11
million gallons of water each year, equating

to $5.4 million in cleaning costs on top
of the $3.6 million in lost output from
soiling. Furthermore, this cost does not
700,000+ KMI Drives Installed to Date
See you at Intersolar North America

18
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MAY/JUNE 2015