Title: Analysing the impact of hydrophobic coatings on the reduction in soil accumulation on transparent surfaces intended for PV application

Abstract

Energy yield possible to obtain from photovoltaic (PV) installation is directly correlated to current weather conditions and the state of individual modules. The latter may be compromised by any residue deposited on top of the glass coverage. Dust settlement causes reduction of working parameters, which in turn leads to lesser amount of light irradiation reaching PV cells. The rate of soil accumulation is linked to exact location of solar installation, type of pollution, any heavy industry in the area and module tilt angle. Some areas are impacted with much more prominent dust deposition, which covers the module surface faster and therefore calls for the increase in manual cleaning. An approach to mitigate this effect is adding transparent hydrophobic layer on the front glass cover. An analysis of few materials available on the market was carried out to test their possible application in PV industry. One important information that was observed immidiately after performing irradiation test was that any glass coverage leads to transparency reduction. This happens notwithstanding the fact if the glass plate was enhanced with hydrophobic film or without it. Furthermore, a slight negative impact of few percentile points is caused by the hydrophobic film itself. Therefore, it is most important to fabricate such layer that does not cause any additional transparency reduction. Subsequent test study with different type of dust helped to conclude that the analysed coatings may indeed pose a good candidate for the use on PV modules. It should be mentioned that they may be improved in further studies, as the authors would like to enhance their transparency.