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					</table><p>China-based robotic solar module cleaning solutions firm <a href="https://en.sunpuretech.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sunpure</a> announced that it has completed its Series A funding round of ¥100 million (~$676,221) led by <a href="https://eng.hengxucapital.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hengxu Capital</a>.</p>
<p>Yuantai Investment Partners Fund, <a href="http://www.fundsgy.com/website/w/h" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guoyuan Fund</a>, and the company’s existing shareholder, <a href="https://glventure.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GL Venture</a>, also participated in this round.</p>
<p>The company, which specializes in research and development, manufacturing, sales, and service of intelligent photovoltaic (PV) robots, said it has secured contracts for over 13 GW capacity, and its cleaning robot has been deployed in 14 countries and regions.</p>
<p>The funds raised in this round will be directed towards the research and development of intelligent robots for solar projects,  as well as the optimization and upgrading of comprehensive cleaning solutions across various scenarios.</p>
<p>The company is keen on exploring robotic applications in different stages of PV plant development, with the aim of enhancing power generation efficiency, increasing the overall internal rate of return, lowering the levelized cost of electricity, and delivering higher value to global customers.</p>
<p>The process of soil, dust, and snow getting collected on solar panels, which is referred to as “soiling,” hinders the amount of light hitting the module and its output.</p>
<p>According to a report by the International Energy Agency, the soiling of solar PV systems could have led to a <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/solar-pv-soiling-cut-energy-production-worldwide#:~:text=The%20soiling%20of%20solar%20photovoltaic,Energy%20Agency%20(IEA)%20said." target="_blank" rel="noopener">loss</a> of €4-7 billion ($4.3-7.6 billion) in 2023, which is equivalent to a 4-5% loss in energy production worldwide. To alleviate these costs, the right cleaning technology, which includes solutions such as automated PV cleaners, is important for the operation and maintenance of solar farms.</p>
<p>Recently, robotic cleaning technology has <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/robotic-cleaning-maximize-energy-yield" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emerged</a> as a cost-effective method amongst utility-scale solar developers because of its efficiency in optimizing operations and management of solar projects.</p>
<p>According to Mercom Capital Group’s newly released <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/product/annual-q4-2023-solar-funding-ma-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Annual and Q4 2023 Solar Funding and M&amp;A Report</a>, the global corporate funding in the solar sector in 2023, including venture capital investments, public market funding, and debt financing, reached $34.3 billion, a 42% year-over-year increase from $24.1 billion.</p>
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Robotic Solar Module Cleaning Firm Sunpure Secures ¥100 Million in Series A Funding


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					</table><p>Pollen coating can reduce the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, and rains are not enough to wash them away, according to a report by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (<a href="https://www.nrel.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NREL</a>).</p>
<p>In a new paper published in the <em>IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, </em>scientists found that while rainfall could wash away some of the pollen, it was not enough to return PV performance levels to what they were before.</p>
<p>Dust, pollen, and other elements hinder the light from reaching solar cells. This process of ‘soiling’ has emerged as a major problem to PV performance and realized revenue for solar plant operators.</p>
<p>The team assessed the effects of the utility-scale solar plants located in four counties in North Carolina and found that the performance of solar panels was reduced by 15% during peak pollen season. Without planned cleaning, annual production losses can stand at 10%.</p>
<p>The solar projects had all been operational for more than seven years at the time of the analysis, without any manual cleaning performed. <a href="https://www.solarunsoiled.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solar Unsoiled</a>, working with the system owner, measured performance increases from 5% to 11%, following mechanical wet brush cleaning.</p>
<p>Even after the end of the pollen season, the performance of solar panels did not return to their previous “cleaned” levels despite frequent rains. Soiling losses have been estimated in arid and semi-arid locations but not rainier locations; hence, the magnitude of the issue depends on local conditions and climate. As per the researchers, this warrants a careful investigation across regions with frequent rainfall to check if planned cleaning can avoid large financial losses and system underperformance.</p>
<p>“There is still much work to do to fully understand the risks and implications of pollen and bio-soiling in the southeast U.S., but this work has made clear that regular rainfall is not sufficient to assume that solar plants are fully cleaned in certain environments,” said Matthew Muller, a research engineer within the PV Performance and Reliability group at NREL and co-author of a new paper describing the problem with pollen.</p>
<p>Solar <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/us-solar-power-capacity-soars-reflecting-35-yoy-rise" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accounts</a> for 48% of new power generation capacity added in the first nine months of 2023; in the U.S., the cumulative installed solar capacity stood at 161 GWdc.</p>
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Solar Panel Efficiency Drops by 15% During Peak Pollen Season Despite Rains


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					</table><p>The soiling of solar photovoltaic systems from dust and snow could lead to a loss of €4-7 ($4.3-7.6 billion) in 2023 which is equivalent to a 4-5% loss in energy production worldwide, a technical report by the International Energy Agency (<a href="https://www.iea.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IEA</a>) said.</p>
<p>The report elaborated on the leading factors in efficiency losses due to soiling and proposed measures that can be employed during and after the installation of solar systems to minimize the impact of dust.</p>
<p>The report said that more PV modules are installed in high-insolation regions, such as China or India, which are also more exposed to soiling.</p>
<p>Further, the lower tariff in many areas does not provide any incentives for developers to spend capital on cleaning the solar modules.</p>
<p>“And, lastly, under identical soiling conditions, more efficient modules are subject to larger energy losses compared to less efficient PV modules,” the report said.</p>
<p>The IEA report identified that the extent and nature of soiling are highly variable and depend on various factors including the climate.</p>
<p>Moreover, soiling does not always occur homogeneously over the whole module surface or plant and tends to accumulate in the lower parts of modules.</p>
<p>“If soiling is not distributed uniformly, the short circuit current measurements may underestimate the actual impact of soiling on PV power,” the report said.</p>
<p>It added that mitigating the losses due to soiling can be classified into preventive and corrective measures.</p>
<p>Preventive measures fall into the responsibility of engineering, procurement, and construction, in terms of site and module selection, anti-soiling coating applications, and site adaption.</p>
<p>Corrective measures fall into the competence of operations and maintenance such as choosing the right cleaning technology.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Illustration-of-soiling-mitigation-technologies.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-47709 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Illustration-of-soiling-mitigation-technologies.png" alt="Illustration of soiling mitigation technologies" width="760" height="454" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Illustration-of-soiling-mitigation-technologies.png 760w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Illustration-of-soiling-mitigation-technologies-300x179.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Illustration-of-soiling-mitigation-technologies-650x388.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Illustration-of-soiling-mitigation-technologies-624x373.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Illustration-of-soiling-mitigation-technologies-600x358.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px" /></a>Fig: Illustration of soiling mitigation technologies.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Source: IEA</em></p>
<p>Under the preventive measures, site planning for the PV system becomes crucial. Knowledge about local meteorological conditions like main wind direction, rain frequencies, relative humidity, and dew occurrence will help in adapting systems to minimize soiling.</p>
<p>“For example, nearby dirt roads can be lined with vegetation to deflect dust gusts. Frameless modules may make it easier for soiling to be removed, and an optimized module design with bypass diodes can minimize the effect of partial shading by heterogenous soiling,” the report said.</p>
<p>Further, anti-soiling coating of various types such as hydrophobic, hydrophilic, or photocatalytic can help in cutting down soiling-induced efficiency losses.</p>
<p>Anti-soiling coating aid natural processes like rain and dew in cleaning the systems. However, the advantage is contingent on the type of coating most suitable for extant local conditions.</p>
<p>Additionally, experiments have shown that maneuvering the tilt angle of the PV modules depending on whether they are bifacial or monofacial can also reduce their ability to attract dust.</p>
<p>On the prevention of soiling, the study elaborated on various types of cleaning methods. The summary is the chart below:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Proposed-PV-cleaning-techniques-based-on-weather-conditions.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-47711 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Proposed-PV-cleaning-techniques-based-on-weather-conditions.png" alt="Proposed PV cleaning techniques based on weather conditions" width="737" height="359" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Proposed-PV-cleaning-techniques-based-on-weather-conditions.png 737w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Proposed-PV-cleaning-techniques-based-on-weather-conditions-300x146.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Proposed-PV-cleaning-techniques-based-on-weather-conditions-650x317.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Proposed-PV-cleaning-techniques-based-on-weather-conditions-624x304.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Proposed-PV-cleaning-techniques-based-on-weather-conditions-600x292.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 737px) 100vw, 737px" /></a>Fig: Proposed PV cleaning techniques based on weather conditions</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Source: IEA</em></p>
<p>Additionally, the report said that the solar power industry needs a more cost-efficient, fully automated, water-saving, and time-saving solution to clean dust and sand off PV panels.</p>
<p>It added that the Electrodynamic Cleaning System (EDS) is a promising technology that fits the bill for cleaning dust off solar panels, solar reflectors (mirrors), and glass surfaces, especially in arid regions.</p>
<p>The EDS consists of a contactless cleaning solution using an electrodynamic cleaning based on the charging of sand particles. Dust particles are evacuated from the module surface via traveling waves controlled by high voltage (in the order of kV) electric pulses applied in dedicated electrodes integrated below the front glass of the solar panel.</p>
<p>The market for robotic cleaning of solar modules has been growing in India as it has<a href="https://mercomindia.com/robotic-cleaning-maximize-energy-yield/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> proved</a> to be effective in increasing yield and cutting O&amp;M costs.</p>
<p>In a recent interview, Nalin Kumar Sharma, the President of Ecoppia for the Asia-Middle East &amp; Pacific regions, said robotic cleaning of modules can <a href="https://mercomindia.com/video-interview-robotic-solar-module-cleaning/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increase</a> generation by up to 5% a year.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/sumit-jha/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Sumit Jha</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt"><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture2.jpg" width="50" /><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Sumit Jha,</strong> Assistant Managing Editor at Mercom India</div>
<div class="designboxt"><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/sumit-jha/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Sumit Jha.</a></div>
<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture2.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/sumit-jha/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Sumit Jha </strong></a>is the Assistant Managing Editor at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Sumit worked as a journalist for over a decade, covering the energy sector for Reuters, CNBC-TV18, Bloomberg TV India, and Financial Express, among others. Sumit holds a diploma in print journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi, and a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) from Manipal Institute of Technology.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/sumit-jha/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Sumit Jha</a></div>
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Solar PV Soiling Likely to Cut 4-5% of Energy Production Worldwide in 2023

<p>A group of scientists have developed a new low-cost machine learning technology to run scheduled cleaning of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules installed in remote locations that are off the grid.</p>
<p>The research team from France’s Sorbonne Université, the École Normale Supérieure de Rennes (ENS Rennes), and the University of Paris-Saclay, applied four machine learning algorithms on data collated from a remote PV system.</p>
<p>The algorithm helped attain a reliability of 95% with 3.5 MHz voltage, current, and temperature signals. These results would be useful for non-governmental organizations, governments, and energy service companies to improve the maintenance level of their PV facilities.</p>
<p>Losses incurred due to soiling remain a significant concern for remote power systems that rely on solar energy. Efficient power loss analysis is available for monitoring sizeable solar PV projects, which helps develop an optimal cleaning schedule. However, things are different for remote monitoring of standalone solar systems employed in rural and remote regions.</p>
<p>The process for large-scale solar PV projects relies on a costly and dirt-sensitive irradiance sensor. However, the team investigated the possibility of low-cost monitoring of cleaning interventions on solar modules during the daytime.</p>
<p>According to the researchers, it is helpful to know whether the soiling is regular and to assess whether it is necessary to carry out additional cleaning operations.</p>
<p>A classification task was formulated using a time window of temperature, voltage, and current measurements of the PV array, to identify the occurrence of a cleaning intervention automatically.</p>
<p>To achieve such a classification task, the team examined the machine learning tools based on logistic regression, support vector machines, and artificial neural networks. They also studied the influence of the temporal resolution of the signals and the feature extraction on the classification performance.</p>
<p>These experiments were conducted on a real dataset and showed promising results with a classification accuracy of up to 95%.</p>
<p>The cleaning of solar panels is essential for efficient power generation from a project. Dust particles, bird droppings, and other particulate materials lead to a decrease in energy generation, highlighting the importance of solar module cleaning.</p>
<p>Robotic cleaning of solar modules is <a href="https://mercomindia.com/robotic-cleaning-solar-modules-gaining-traction-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gaining</a> momentum in India amid rising water scarcity.</p>
<p>Recently, India’s Central Electronics Limited (<a href="http://www.celindia.co.in/drupal7/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CEL</a>), a public sector enterprise under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/cel-assist-waterless-solar-module-cleaning-systems/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">issued</a> an expression of interest to tie-up with start-up companies as a technology partner for waterless solar photovoltaic module cleaning systems.</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="http://www.bhel.com/index.php/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BHEL</a> had also <a href="https://mercomindia.com/bhel-module-cleaning-supplier-solar-projects-maharashtra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">issued</a> a tender for the supply of module cleaning systems for 50 MW of solar projects in Maharashtra.</p>
<p>Image credit: Blokleen Solar Private Limited</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rahul-nair/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rahul Nair</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p>Rahul is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before entering the world of renewables, Rahul was head of the Gujarat bureau for The Quint. He has also worked for DNA Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad Mirror. Hailing from a banking and finance background, Rahul has also worked for JP Morgan Chase and State Bank of India. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rahul-nair/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rahul Nair.</a></p>
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