1.25 MW Grid Tied Solar Plant | PV Modules Cleaning
1.25 MW Grid Tied Solar Plant | PV Modules Cleaning
(OP)
We are supervising a 1.25 MW solar plant with 38 string inverters and around 5000 solar plates installed. It has been our practice to wash the solar plates on a daily basis. However, we are observing faults due to moisture ingress and the frequency of faults are increasing. Please suggest some standards that guide for cleaning techniques for the solar panels.
RE: 1.25 MW Grid Tied Solar Plant | PV Modules Cleaning
Can you switch to washing based on how much dust has accumulated?
RE: 1.25 MW Grid Tied Solar Plant | PV Modules Cleaning
RE: 1.25 MW Grid Tied Solar Plant | PV Modules Cleaning
Above all - figure out exactly where the fault is occurring. Is it in the panel, the wire run between "turning motor" and panel, between controller and "turning motor", or at the cable terminations at each location? Then address the specific issue - not just a symptom.
Converting energy to motion for more than half a century
RE: 1.25 MW Grid Tied Solar Plant | PV Modules Cleaning
You're literally torturing the panels and I'd expect them to all fail. If you're doing this during the day you have panels that will be almost too hot to touch that you're applying water to! Serious thermal shock that will open the seals. This shock would not normally happen. Rain doesn't generally show up in intense sunlight. It gets overcast dropping the panel temps before water starts landing.
You're blocking panels and killing output on any banks you're cleaning. This is costing efficiency, the whole reason you're washing them. If you clean them at night you nether thermally shock them or cause efficiency loss. The water will be evaporated by the time the sun gets part way up the sky and well before the panels get hot.
No pressure washer EVER. Use standard window washing techniques. Spritz with RO or distilled water and use a wide squeegee. It's way faster than any other method too. If you need cleaner find one with no surfactants. Sufactants cause water to wet better and that will transport it thru seals much faster.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: 1.25 MW Grid Tied Solar Plant | PV Modules Cleaning
For a 1.25MW site, I wouldn’t even expect to see staff on site on a daily basis. Monitoring performance remotely and dispatch as needed.
JFPE
RE: 1.25 MW Grid Tied Solar Plant | PV Modules Cleaning