A brief summary of cleaning operations and their effect on the photovoltaic performance in Africa and the Middle East

Abstract

This article lists the technologies used to clean photovoltaic (PV) panels installed in Africa and the Middle East. The peculiarity of the two regions is rooted in their sharing of the high capacity of the solar energy resource, the similarity in the dusty climates, and the intensive research conducted regarding dust soiling and mitigation. This concise summary contains an appraisal of the cleaning methods by naming their merits and drawbacks. The summary also tackles the optimization of the module tilt angle, which some researchers have shown interest in to enhance the gravitational forces that would reduce dust accumulation on PV surfaces. In the end, we included the cleaning frequencies that researchers recommended for several locations and concisely addressed the cleaning economics. We have drawn from this effort as a whole: First, we confirmed that the local climate contributes the most in selecting the cleaning method. Second, we can affirmatively claim that anti-soiling coatings are favored in North Africa, while water-based methods are popular in the gulf cooperation council countries. Third, natural cleaning by wind is ineffective in the desert regions of Africa and the Middle East. Last, the ideal cleaning frequency for Arabia is once a week and varies across Africa.