Summer Soiling Surge: Keep Panels Clean When It Matters Most

scott5412
21 minutes ago
2 min read

Dust storms and pollen can coat your modules in a matter of hours.

When temperatures rise and skies stay clear, summer months often deliver peak irradiance—and peak soiling risk. High solar insolation speeds revenue potential, but also accelerates the deposition of dust, pollen, wildfire soot, and agricultural particulates on your panels. Left unchecked, summer soiling can slash up to 30% off your energy yield—an impact that really hits your bottom line. By leveraging real‑time soiling measurements and 5‑minute trend alerts, you can time your cleaning interventions precisely, ensuring you capture every available kilowatt even during the most challenging summer conditions.

Why Summer Soiling Is a Critical Challenge

Increased Dust Transport: Strong thermal updrafts lift desert sand and agricultural soil, while midday breezes carry them directly onto your arrays.
Pollen & Biological Film: Late‑spring blooms deposit sticky pollen that binds successive dust layers into stubborn films.
Wildfire Smoke: Summer wildfires generate PM2.5 particles that can drift hundreds of miles, laying down an invisible haze that costs you performance.
Heat‑Induced Adhesion: Scorching panel surfaces bake these deposits onto the glass, making routine washes less effective and more labor‑intensive.

Traditional calendar‑based cleanings simply can’t keep pace with these dynamic events.

Data‑Driven Defense with ARES

Fast Detection of Early Losses: ARES Soiling Stations sample soiling loss every five minutes—comparing one automatically rinsed reference cell against one left to accumulate dirt—to compute percent‑loss metrics on the full solar spectrum. Early alerts reclaim lost kWh before losses become visible.
Optimized Wash Timing: Rather than a rigid set schedule, ARES trend graphs and threshold triggers signal exactly when soiling crosses your site‑specific tolerance. Rather than sticking to a fixed schedule, ARES predicts your optimal wash dates, the ideal number of cleanings per year, and the projected O&M savings—so you only wash when it truly pays.
Forecast‑Assisted Planning: The ARES portal blends your historical summer soiling data with live weather and air‑quality metrics to forecast peak soiling days—allowing you to plan crew deployments and resources well in advance.
Automated Baseline Reset: Every morning the integrated Wash Extension rinses the clean reference cell, restoring your baseline. This eliminates carry‑over from prior soiling events and ensures your daily loss metrics always start from true zero.

Stay Cool—and Clean

Don’t let summer soiling stealthily erode your ROI. With ARES’s patented large‑area PV reference cells, self‑powered, under‑1‑hour installation, and cloud‑based analytics, you’ll protect every watt during the sunniest—and dustiest—season of the year. By shifting from calendar‑based to condition‑based cleaning, you’ll slash unnecessary labor and water use while maximizing production when it counts most.