Pollen and Bio-Soiling in the Southeast U.S.

Matthew Muller, Joao Bessa, Michael Valerino, Michael Deceglie, Kevin Anderson

Research output: NRELPoster

Abstract

Typical PV soiling models presume that soiling follows a sawtooth pattern: linear soiling during dry periods followed by abrupt recovery or cleaning during rainfall events. Due to frequency of rainfall in the in the eastern U.S. sawtooth soiling models report near zero soiling losses in this region. Alternatively, through work with system owner/operators per NREL's PVfleet project it has become clear that there are systems in the Southeast that have soiled as high as 10% which are not recovering with regular rainfall. The current hypothesis is that sticky soiling due to pollen or other biological sources is persistent to rainfall removal. Field data and the latest progress towards de-risking bio-soiling will be presented.
Original languageAmerican English
StatePublished - 2023

Publication series

NamePresented at the 2023 Photovoltaic Reliability Workshop (PVRW), 28 February - 2 March 2023, Lakewood, Colorado

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/PO-5K00-85783

Keywords

  • photovoltaic
  • pollen
  • soiling

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