Abstract
There are some environmental factors, such as ambient temperature, dust, etc., which cause a reduction in the efficiency of Photovoltaic (PV) systems. Installation of PV panels on the water surface, commonly known as Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) systems, is one solution to employ PV panels in a cooler environment, achieve higher efficiency, and reduce water evaporation. FPV systems open up new opportunities for scaling up solar generating capacity, especially in countries with high population density and valuable lands, as well as countries with high evaporation rates and water resources deficiency. Since the FPV system is an almost new concept, its cleaning techniques have not been comprehensively studied. While FPV systems are located on the surface of water resources and reservoirs, the water quality can limit the application of different cleaning techniques. Therefore, this paper investigates different techniques of FPV systems cleaning and categorizes them into water-based and water-free approaches. In addition, their cleaning frequencies, as well as economic aspects, are presented and discussed to determine their merits and demerits for using them in FPV systems.
Highlights
Accepted: 26 March 2021The increased energy consumption and global warming concerns have encouraged governments to promote the installation of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) [1,2,3]
The long-time warranty of solar equipment decreases the maintenance costs and if Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) systems are installed on dam lakes, the saved water can be utilized for load peak shaving
Pre-cooled turned airtechnique of air-conditioners cleaning and removing return the heat. This returned air of air-conditioners for cleaning and removing the heat from PV panels. This water-free approach uses a convection mechanism for cooling, which is applicable for arid water-free approach uses a convection mechanism for cooling, which is applicable for arid regions, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) [96]
Summary
The increased energy consumption and global warming concerns have encouraged governments to promote the installation of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) [1,2,3]. By reducing the incoming solar radiation, the dust accumulation causes a decline in the power generation of panels by up to 15% per day [24] Such a reduction in the efficiency of PV panels can reach up to 30% in dusty regions considering particle. The cooling effect caused by placing PV panels on the water surface reduces their temperature, which in turn leads to energy efficiency enhancement [42,43,44,45] In addition to this merit, FPV systems have many other advantages, such as water evaporation reduction, land cost-saving, improving water quality, and less dust effect [34,46]. The results of the study are presented, and in the final section, conclusions and recommendations for future work are discussed
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