What an official Chemitek distributor means for Southern African plants

An official distributor is the channel a manufacturer appoints for a region. Chemitek sells in more than 70 countries through more than 60 distributors (chemitek.pt), and RenewChem is its official distributor for Southern Africa.

For a plant, that should mean four things: genuine product, the maker’s documents, letters of conformity matched to your modules, and technical support from people who know the chemistry. RenewChem adds a fifth. It is a team of specialist O&M engineers who measure soiling and cleaning water on site, run free pilots for utility-scale and large C&I plants and design cleaning programmes. You can use that engineering, or simply order the products.

You may also find Chemitek products at other suppliers. Whoever you buy from, the checks below apply.

1. Genuine product

Genuine product is the named Chemitek formulation, in the maker’s own pack, inside its shelf life. Check three things on delivery:

• The product name and code. Letters of conformity name specific products, such as Solar Wash Protect (SWP 50 or SWP 300), Antistatic Solar Armor 2.0 (ASA 2.0) or Inorganic Removal Agent (CRA). A decanted or relabelled liquid can’t be matched to a letter or a datasheet.
• The maker. ChemiTek – Química Avançada, S.A., of Esposende, Portugal.
• The dates. Solar Wash Protect, for example, keeps for three years closed and six months opened, and diluted solution must be used within 48 hours (Chemitek). Other products have their own shelf lives, so check the datasheet against the pack.

2. The documents that come with it

Chemitek describes its products as readily biodegradable. That matters where an environmental authorisation limits run-off. Ask for the current ÉMI-TÜV SÜD report for the product you plan to use, and check its date.

RenewChem supplies the technical and safety datasheets with the products, and letters of conformity on request.

3. Letters of conformity and warranty conditions

Chemitek counts module makers’ letters of conformity per product; Solar Wash Protect has 18. The full counts are in cleaning and your module warranty.

A letter is conditional. LONGi’s sample letter says it is not a warranty guarantee, and lists its conditions: wet cleaning only, a water-pressure limit, the brush type and trained staff. Some letters cover named module series only, or are preliminary: the Canadian Solar letter on file for Solar Wash Protect, dated 26 May 2020, covers two module series and calls itself a preliminary approval. A letter also covers only the products it names; JA Solar’s letter of 17 June 2025 names ten Chemitek products.

So the useful work is matching: the right letter for your module maker and series, and a cleaning method that stays inside its conditions for water, pressure, brushes and staff. Warranty-safe methods is how we apply them on site.

4. Technical support: dilution, water and method

Datasheets give ranges. Choosing the right point in the range for your soiling, water and equipment is where support earns its place:

• Dilution by soiling. Inorganic Removal Agent starts at 1 kg to 2 L of water and strengthens to 1:1 or 1:0.5 for stubborn films; Drone Solar Cleaning Agent runs from 1:50 to 1:150, depending on the soiling (Chemitek).
• Dose by water hardness. Water Softening Agent is dosed from a hardness test, from 1:500 at 250 ppm to 1:5,000 at 25 ppm, and checked afterwards with test strips, because a TDS meter reads the agent itself (Chemitek).
• Equipment rules. Antistatic Solar Armor 2.0 is dosed at 1 kg per 1,000 L into the water of rotary brushes, robots or tractors. Chemitek advises against applying it by manual brush and recommends Solar Wash Protect for manual crews.
• Method statements and crew training, because trained staff is itself one of the conditions in LONGi’s letter.

5. The engineering behind the products

RenewChem is a team of specialist O&M engineers for solar, wind and CSP plants, based in Cape Town and working across Southern Africa. Its engineers work alongside plant owners, asset managers and O&M contractors:

• soiling measurement with reference panels, soiling stations and sensors;
• cleaning-water testing against your module maker’s limits;
• free pilots for utility-scale and large C&I plants, reading treated strings against control strings;
• cleaning strategy, with brushes, dosing pumps and other equipment matched to the soiling;
• CSP mirror reflectivity and drone cleaning, including wind turbine blades.

The evidence starts with Chemitek’s published field work, and the result depends on what is on the glass:

• Soiling is the dust, sand and pollen that build up between cleans, on almost every plant. Solar Wash Protect or Antistatic Solar Armor 2.0 in the normal clean handles it. See the Morocco trial. Over water-only cleaning, Solar Wash Protect added energy at a utility plant in Honduras and 5.1% on a rooftop in India.
• Contamination, such as cement, limescale or lichen bonded to the glass, keeps building until it is removed, so these plants usually gain the most. See the Dubai case.

On South African plants, we measure the result on site.

RenewChem supplies and supports plants in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and beyond. South Africa holds about half of Africa’s installed solar: 11,255 of 22,188 MW at the end of 2025, with 389 MW in Namibia and 169 MW in Botswana (IRENA 2026). The region also shares its dust sources, such as the dry pans and lakes of Etosha and the Makgadikgadi (Vickery et al. 2013).

Two ways to buy.

• Products only. Crews that know the job can buy just the products, with the datasheets. See the Chemitek range.
• Products with engineering. Ask for a site visit, a water test or a pilot, and we will set the method with your O&M team. See working with your O&M team.