People around the world are switching towards solar power and discovering both economic and environmental benefits, which involves a considerable transition from nonrenewable fossil fuels to clean energy resources.
India is now home to the largest solar farms in the world. With the Kamuthi solar plant’s expansion, India also ranks third in utility-scale solar, only next to China and the U.S. The Kamuthi solar plant generates nearly 650 megawatts and covers 2,500 acres. In addition, air pollution has also become a serious problem across India. The capital city of New Delhi was named the “world’s most polluted city,” leading to an official state of emergency. Now more than ever countries are looking to India for inspiration about how to become successful in the solar industry. However, recent studies reveal that India's solar capacity is under a new risk.
Dust particles deposited on the solar panels impair conversion of solar energy.
In the first study of its kind, scientists from IIT-Gandhinagar and Duke University measured how man-made particles floating in the air and deposited as grime on solar power panels combined to seriously impair sunlight from converting to energy.
Particulate matter like black carbon, dust, and organic carbon from biomass burning and fossil fuel deposited on solar power panels and present in air impairs the conversion of solar energy, which is responsible for about 17% reduction in solar power generation in India, and translates to the reduction of about 2 Gigawatts in solar power production for about 12 GW installed solar power capacity.
"A simple calculation shows that this is a big amount of energy we are going to lose," Professor Chinmay Ghoroi, IIT-Gandhinagar told AFP.
These Dust and non-dust particulate matter which gets grime on the solar power panels and present in the air to an extent arrest the shortwave solar radiation from reaching the panels, thereby reducing energy production.
(Image: An extremely dusty solar panel stands on a rooftop at the Indian Institute of Technology. Researchers Michael Bergin of Duke University and Chinmay Ghoroi of the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar, pictured, looked closer into the cumulative effect of dust on worldwide solar panel efficiencies in a new study. MICHAEL BERGIN, DUKE UNIVERSITY)
(Image: An extremely dusty solar panel stands on a rooftop at the Indian Institute of Technology. Researchers Michael Bergin of Duke University and Chinmay Ghoroi of the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar, pictured, looked closer into the cumulative effect of dust on worldwide solar panel efficiencies in a new study. MICHAEL BERGIN, DUKE UNIVERSITY)
Both groups of scientists conducted a field study between January and March 2016, findings revealed that dust accounted for 92% while the remaining fraction was composed of organic carbon, black carbon, and ions produced from sources linked to human activity. However, the dust has less influence in reducing solar energy production compared with man-made particles.
"Owing to their larger size, dust particles have less influence on solar panel transmittance, and scattering by dust particles is also relatively less compared with the combustion-related particulate matter," says Prof. Chinmay Ghoroi, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Gandhinagar to The Hindu.
Extrapolating from the observations, Duke University scientists found that it affects 25% of solar energy output. Their findings say that the hardest hit regions happen to be those currently invest billions in solar infrastructure: dry regions like the Arabian Peninsula, Northern India, and Eastern China
Cleaning panels and its effects
The study found an average 50% jump in efficiency each time the panels were cleaned every 20-30 days. But if the cleaning was carried out once every two months, the efficiency decreased a lot. The study suggests that regular cleaning of the panels alone will not be of much help if particulate matter, particularly man-made particles, is present in the ambient air. However, cleaning solar panels is not that simple, and there's a risk that cleaning them incorrectly could damage the expensive structures.
"We always knew these pollutants were bad for human health and climate change, but now we've shown how bad they are for solar energy as well....It's yet another reason for policymakers worldwide to adopt emissions controls," says Michael Bergin
It is irrefutable that solar energy is a beacon of sustainable hope as people around the world look for renewable energy resources, and this research is an alarm to the policy makers to take air pollution seriously.
Rama Pandian, she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in chemical sciences at the VIT University.
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