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New robot to clean solar panels will improve their efficiency
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Deserts, which serve as a fairly strong source of sunlight, are an optimal place for the construction of solar power plants and the production of electricity.
However, such dry places are also quite dusty, which poses certain problems for the operation of solar panels. Owners of solar energy production systems have long needed new technologies that would allow the effective removal of dust and dirt from solar panels for more efficient operation. Dirty panels lose an average of 0.6% efficiency, and after dust storms - about 60%.
However, cleaning solar panels in desert conditions where there is an acute shortage of water is quite difficult. In addition, cleaning panels requires significant human resources, but in arid conditions, where the air temperature can rise to 50 0 C during the day, the use of such a labor force is problematic.
In Saudi Arabia, specialists have developed a special automated device – a robot that can remove dust without using water.
Small robots must be installed on the panels along the guides. A special automated device moves along the panel at least once a day and cleans it using a special brush, which was specially developed for solar panels in such a way that no additional water is required for cleaning, and also so as not to damage the surface of the solar panel.
The automated device has a number of advantages over manual cleaning, which can be done once a week. A clean solar panel works more efficiently and produces more energy. One such robot can remove dust and dirt from a panel 182 meters long. In addition, the developers plan to upgrade the device, which will increase the efficiency of the device and will be able to clean a panel up to 274 meters long.
Each row of solar panels has its own robot. Although the automated device is small in size, cleaning the huge area of the power plant takes almost as much time as traditional manual cleaning.
As the developers note, the advantage of their development is that they were developed in a country where almost everyone knows about the conditions of work in the desert. As the authors themselves claim, the new technology will be able to pay for itself in three years, and the device itself is capable of working without problems in difficult conditions with minimal maintenance. The robot was manufactured and tested in Saudi Arabia specifically for work in arid regions. As experts believe, the main advantage of their development is that the device could be tested directly in arid conditions during operation.
The problem of cleaning solar panels is of concern to many specialists. Recently, Israeli specialists have developed a technology with a similar operating principle, and Israeli scientists are also working on a self-cleaning system for solar panels.