DEWA Solar Dust Project

Client

Dubai Electricity & Water Authority

Project Description

Utility-scale PV plants are increasingly being deployed in the desert environment due to lower land use costs, stronger and stable solar radiation and the unshaded clear sky conditions. However, the desert environment brings increased dust accumulation over the PV front surface that reduces the available radiation to the PV cell eventually reducing its power production. The most effective PV cleaning methods involve water-based surface cleaning that incurs tremendous overheads in terms of water supply infrastructure and water use cost. The current project introduces an alternative approach to secure water required for PV cleaning through an onsite atmospheric water generation system. The water generation concept more specifically relies on a novel combination of a natural and powered cooling system. The research can potentially eliminate external water supply for cleaning large scale plants at a very low energy cost.