The Effect of Soiling and Periodic Cleaning on the Performance of Solar Power Plants in Ma’an, Jordan

Environmental variables such as soiling in the outdoor environment can affect the overall efficiency of solar plants in arid regions with scarce rain negatively. The reduction in power is caused by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by the solar panel itself. The cleaning process of the photovoltaic can contribute to a significant cost of the plant operation cost. The objective of this work is to study the effect of soiling and the periodic cleaning process of solar cells in Ma’an district, Jordan. Yearly degradation and performance were studied in outdoor exposure between January and November of 2017. The study found that based on a one cleaning process per month, the worst scenario will cause a power degradation of 2.99% with an average of 2.22% for the whole period of the study. Keywords:Solar energy in Jordan, Soiling and Cleaning, Performance ratio, Degradation, Photovoltaic solar panel