E-Mail Express

Name:

Company:

E-mail:

Phone:

An answer to pesky solar-panel dirt

OCS ENERGY SYSTEM AUTOMATICALLY CLEANS, UPS ENERGY EFFICIENCY

PETALUMA – To a new solar system owner, there’s nothing quite so beautiful as the sheen and sparkle of brand new voltaic panels.

But dirt happens. And that leads to loss of energy – up to 20 percent, according to Rich O’Connell – and usually someone on a tall ladder with a hose.

It was while he was risking his own life and limbs cleaning pigeon droppings off his home installation that Mr. O’Connell, for 17 years an electrical engineer for the city of Santa Rosa, came up with the idea for SolarWash.

“I thought about the huge number of solar installations going in worldwide, built to last for 20 years, with little or no thought going into maintenance,” he said. “Because there are no moving parts, people assume the systems will take care of themselves.”

But a dilemma is unfolding. Unless the panels are kept clean, they won’t generate the amount of electricity they were built for. And cleaning them becomes the responsibility of the homeowner or, for large commercial installations, a crew of window washers.

“When I began to research the issue I was introduced to an executive at the International Window Cleaning Association, who told me the lack of safety training and precautions is causing lots of concern. There’s a big difference between cleaning a glass window and cleaning an electrical system,” said Mr. O’Connell.

His SolarWash system, as yet in a prototypical form on his own roof and soon to be retrofit on a 400 kW installation, does away with the danger of untrained crews on slick roofs. A series of nozzles, controlled remotely with a Web interface, spray, soak and air-dry only those panels which are showing reduced generation on the monitor.

“It’s basic SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) technology. It’s been evolving for the last 30 years to monitor and control factory processes,” said Mr. O’Connell.

SolarWash, he found, has some benefits beyond improved efficiency, less water use and safety. For example, the panels can be cooled when exceptionally hot weather prevents them from working properly. Also, clog-proof nozzles enable the use of gray water, which can often be obtained for free from a treatment plant.

Mr. O’Connell has a patent pending on a microprocessor-based glass cleaning system, and he’s not aware of any similar technology on the market.

The systems will be priced at about 30 cents a watt, which would add $300,000 to the price of a system like Agilent Technologies’ 1 megawatt installation in Santa Rosa.

State rebates and federal tax incentives may apply as the SolarWash is considered a peripheral installation in the “auxiliary maintenance equipment” portion of the tax code, he said.

The payback period can vary from one to four years, depending on how much energy is lost as a result of soiling.

“PV systems can have a dirt factor ranging from as little as 5 percent to as much as 25 percent of total energy produced. We reverse engineer the power output of the system to determine this factor and approximate the payback period,” he said.

OCS Energy is currently self-funded. When solar installers and systems providers flooded the North Bay Mr. O’Connell sold a solar installation company he and a partner founded. He has put four years of research and about $500,000 into his new company, which he runs with his wife and partner, Mariclair O’Connell.

“I’m hoping some angels will come forward to help us grow. We’re not interested in pulling in a big salary, but we’d like to hire some high-quality engineering talent,” Mr. O’Connell said.

He’s working on a business plan before approaching local funding groups with an appeal for a small amount – “a lot less than $1 million” – in investment funding.

“Ideally, we’d like to provide the whole system, panels and SolarWash together. There’s a global market for the technology, and it’s only going to grow,” he said.

For more information and a video on how SolarWash works, visit www.ocsenergy.com.