Design of a Cleaning Program for a PV Plant Based on Analysis of Energy Losses

Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy has grown significantly over the past few years. However, despite the increase in installed capacity, this energy source still raises important concerns related to the variability of power production. The short-term effects such as cloud shadowing and supply interruptions, as well as long-term effects such as dust accumulation, seasonal variation, and ageing of PV modules, can cause variability of power production. Therefore, the analysis of all the variability sources in order to provide statistically consistent power production data is an important challenge. This study presents a methodology to analyze data from a PV plant in order to have an independent evaluation of the different effects of variability, identifying dust deposition, and proposing a cost-based optimal cleaning program for a PV plant installed in the northern region of Chile.