Prediction of Yield, Soiling Loss, and Cleaning Cycle: A Case Study in South Asian Highly Construction-Active Urban Zone

The sunbelt regions have high insolation—they are also within high soiling zones due to arid climates. Additionally, urban areas of South Asia have high construction activity, resulting in artificially increased dust. Therefore, to design and operate solar farms efficiently, we require soiling aware yield and performance analysis. In this work, we experimentally find soiling rates in Dhaka, Bangladesh for 0°, 24° and 90° tilted panels. These rates are used to numerically predict output for different cleaning intervals, optimal cleaning cycle, and optimal revenue of 0° and 24° tilted south facing monofacial farms, and ground sculpted vertical bifacial farms. Although vertical panels are expected to perform better under soiling, we find that, with optimal cleaning, the 24° tilted south facing monofacial farms can produce 5.3% higher revenue than the vertical bifacial farm in winter in Dhaka.