Citation: Olorunfemi, B.O.;
Ogbolumani, O.A.; Nwulu, N. Solar
Panels Dirt Monitoring and Cleaning for
Performance Improvement: A Systematic
Review on Smart Systems. Sustainability
2022, 14, 10920. https://doi.org/
10.3390/su141710920
Academic Editors:
Luis Hernández-Callejo,
Sergio Nesmachnow and Sara
Gallardo Saavedra
Received: 15 June 2022
Accepted: 22 August 2022
Published: 1 September 2022
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affil-
iations.
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
Systematic Review
Solar Panels Dirt Monitoring and Cleaning for Performance
Improvement: A Systematic Review on Smart Systems
Benjamin Oluwamuyiwa Olorunfemi * , Omolola A. Ogbolumani and Nnamdi Nwulu
Center for Cyber-Physical Food, Energy and Water Systems (CCP-FEWS), University of Johannesburg,
P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa
* Correspondence: ben93olorunfemi@gmail.com
Abstract:
The advancement in technology to manage energy generation using solar panels has proved
vital for increased reliability and reduced cost. Solar panels emit no pollution while producing
electricity as a renewable energy source. However, the solar panel is adversely affected by dirt, a
major environmental factor affecting energy production. The intensity of light falling on the solar
panel is reduced when dirt accumulates on the surface. This, in turn, lowers the output of electrical
energy generated by the solar panel. Since cleansing the solar panel is essential, constant monitoring
and evaluation of these processes are necessary to optimize them. This emphasizes the importance of
using smart systems to monitor dirt and clean solar panels to improve their performance. The paper
tries to verify the existence and the degree of research interest in this topic and seeks to evaluate the
impact of smart systems to detect dirt conditions and clean solar panels compared to autonomous
and manual technology. Research on smart systems for addressing dirt accumulation on solar panels
was conducted taking into account efficiency, accuracy, complexity, and reliability, initial and running
cost. Overall, real-time monitoring and cleaning of the solar panel improved its output power
with integrated smart systems. It helps users get real-time updates of the solar panel’s condition
and control actions from distant locations. A critical limitation of this research is the insufficient
empirical analysis of existing smart systems, which should be thoroughly examined to allow further
generalization of theoretical findings.
Keywords:
photovoltaic panel; remote solar plant; automated cleaning; condition monitoring; inter-
net of things; solar panels dirt; dirt detection; dirt accumulation and removal; device management;
real-time monitoring and cleaning
1. Introduction
In many industrialized nations, electricity generation is still dependent on fossil fuels.
Although these fuels are very effective in energy quality, they are not suited for long-term
use because the fossil fuel source will eventually run out someday. Furthermore, fossil fuels
are a considerable threat to environmental balance and create numerous ecological problems
such as global warming [
1
,
2
]. Therefore, the utilization of renewable sources must be
accepted as soon as possible. A significant feature of renewable electricity generation is the
infinite supply [
3
]. Compared to conventional fossil fuel technologies, renewable electrical
energy sources have a more negligible effect on the environment, considering cleanliness.
Solar panel technology is becoming more popular as a renewable electricity generation
due to the growing renewable energy request [
4
,
5
]. By the end of this decade, China’s
solar capacity is foreseen to reach 400 GW [
6
]. The cumulative installed solar capacity in
megawatts between 2012 and 2021 is shown in Figure 1, based on the information provided
by IRENA, International Renewable Energy Agency [7].
Sustainability 2022, 14, 10920. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710920 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
