Automated cleaning

Different studies have been conducted in order to analyse and quantify the impact of dirt on solar panels' performance and output. Sand, dust, industrial pollution, bird droppings... all of these things cause a loss of output from your solar power facility that worsen over time and could cause your revenue to drop by 20%.

Answering questions like is the rain enough to clean solar panels, or how often solar panels need to be cleaned were the main reason behind these studies given that this information is important for predicting solar panel performance.

All the studies agree that solar panels need to be cleaned regularly in order to improve output, but there is no consensus on how often solar fields should be cleaned.

When the financial analysis is carried out before a solar field is installed, it is common practice in the sector to estimate a loss of output between 3% and 5% of the total amount of energy produced by the solar field attributable to the dirt that builds up on solar panels.

Considering that these types of fields have a guaranteed operating life of at least 25 years, based on the current legislation in force,  over the course of the years, these losses may, lead to the owner of the solar power facility losing a significant amount of income as a result of this problem.

It is not advisable to clean solar panels with hoses or tap water as the water in the public supply system contains lime and other minerals that can cause encrustations on the panels that serve to hold dirt.

Contrary to popular belief, rainwater is not enough to remove all the impurities that can accumulate on the surface of solar panels over time and, sometimes instead of being a solution it only serves to make the problem worse.

In ENERIS we have found the answer to "how and when" solar power modules should be cleaned.

Our system's main features are:

Fully automated system, once it is started it does not need human input. Use of chemically-treated water prevents encrustations on the modules. Using the minimum amount of water needed reduces water consumption. The system itself decides when the modules should be cleaned based on the accumulated dirt.