World’s First Self-Cleaning Solar Park Debuts in Israel

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/world-s-first-self-cleaning-solar-park-debuts-israel-1396707225

e of the biggest challenges to increasing solar panel efficiency is keeping panels clean, especially in locations where there is much sun to be harnessed. Now, in Kibbutz Ketura, an arid desert in Israel, a huge solar farm has increased its sun-gathering power by 35 percent utilizing 100 robots that nightly wash panels clean.

These robots have peaked interest in the sun as an energy source again in a time when cheap natural gas found off the coast of Israel, temporarily shaded the need for cleaner power.

The sun-powered robots are timed to clean a 20-acre solar farm jointly owned by Siemens AG and solar energy pioneer, Arava Power. Cleaning the dust from solar panels results in better energy capture, and facilitates the creation of 9 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Every night they roll down the panels, brushing off dust and debris, powered themselves by the sun.

The ‘soiling’ of solar panels, an industry term that refers to panels losing their efficiency over time due to grime accumulation, is a big problem since often where there is lots of sun, there is also lots of sand. Normally, panels must be cleaned with water – a commodity which is hard to come by in the desert. Keeping huge solar arrays clean is one of the hurdles the solar industry has been seeking to overcome to be more competitive with other energy sources.

Solar currently only supplies a small fraction of the 60 billion kilowatt hours used by Israel annually, but improvements in technology like this one could shift the country’s use of fossil fuels more drastically. Furthermore, Israel isn’t the only country who could benefit.

The United States could especially gain advantage by looking for innovative ways to improve solar technology. Clean energy expert, Jigar Shah, says that the US is one of the most heavily underestimated solar markets in the world.

[jollyreaper2112]

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