A review of dust accumulation on PV panels in the MENA and the Far East regions

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive review regarding the published work related to the effect of dust on the performance of photovoltaic panels in the Middle East and North Africa region as well as the Far East region. The review thoroughly discusses the problem of dust accumulation on the surface of photovoltaic panels and the severity of the problem. Moreover, a survey of the most advanced cleaning techniques is presented, and their applicability is evaluated. There are plenty of techniques that have been used to remove the dust accumulated on the surface of PV panels, and these include manual and self-cleaning methods. However, it is concluded from the presented review that there is a strong need for developing new cleaning methods especially for the Middle East and North Africa region, which do not consume water and have low capital and operational costs with less human intervention, especially for hot, arid, and dusty regions.

Keywords

• PV panels
• Dust accumulation
• MENA region
• Cleaning
• Dust mitigation