A brief history and future aspects in automatic cleaning systems for solar photovoltaic panels

The energy or efficiency produced by solar photovoltaic modules is related with the Sun’s available irradiance and spectral content, as well as other factors like environmental, climatic, component performance and inherent system. These dust, dirt and bird droppings are the major reasons for the solar photovoltaic system underperformance. This paper discusses a comprehensive overview of dust problem and the recent developments made on automated cleaning system for solar photovoltaic modules which give brief overview on techniques like electrical, mechanical, chemical and electrostatic. The main objective of the study is to review the literature on solar photovoltaic module automated cleaning techniques for identifying research gaps in the automated cleaning systems.