Guides
What we’ve learned measuring plants
The handbook our engineers work from: how soiling and contamination cost a plant, how to measure them, and what your water, your module maker and each product allow. Every number names its source.
Soiling losses in South Africa: How much dust really costs a PV plant
Soiling losses in South Africa are shaped by long dry seasons, regional dust and scarce cleaning water. This guide brings the measured South African data together, turns the loss into rand and shows how to find your own plant's number.Read the guideSoiling
Dust that settles between cleans: what it costs, how to measure it and when to clean.
Comes back after every clean.
- 02
Soiling ratio, soiling rate and soiling loss: Definitions and formulas
Soiling ratio, rate and loss defined, with formulas and a worked example.
- 03
How to measure PV soiling: Soiling stations, reference cells, optical sensors and IEC 61724-1
Soiling stations, reference cells and optical sensors compared, and how many a South African plant needs.
- 04
How often should you clean a utility-scale solar plant? A cost-based cleaning-interval method
Set the cleaning interval by money, not the calendar.
- 05
Dry season is soiling season: A six-point checklist for Southern African solar plants
Six checks before the dry months: sensors, water, interval, coatings, dust sources and crews.
Contamination
Deposits that bond to the glass: why water leaves them behind, and the damage they do.
Grows clean after clean, until it’s removed.
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Why cement dust won’t wash off solar panels: The chemistry, and a safe way to remove it
Why cured cement film survives water and brushing, and how to remove it without harming the glass.
- 07
Can dust damage solar panels? What soiling and contaminants do to module life
When soiling only costs output, when it does lasting damage, and how to find it early.
Water, warranty and products
What your cleaning water, your module maker and each product allow.
- 08
Water quality for solar panel cleaning: Hardness, TDS and what 23 module makers allow
What 23 module makers' manuals allow for hardness, TDS and pH, and how to test your water.
- 09
Will cleaning chemicals void my panel warranty? Letters of conformity explained
What a module maker's letter of conformity covers, what it doesn't, and the cleaning rules that come with it.
- 10
Chemitek products explained: Which cleaner or coating for which contaminant
Each Chemitek cleaner and coating matched to the contaminant it was made for.
Tools
Put it to work on your plant: your own numbers, and the products for your glass and your water.