In recent days we have woken up to the news that the storm Celia and the effects of the Saharan haze have covered the solar panels of practically all of Spain, affecting solar production in the country.
This will continue to happen every year, and on several occasions. So, if you’re wondering what to do when calima and dust from the Sahara affect your solar panels, you’re in the right place!
Haze and haze dust on your solar panels
Last Tuesday, in many areas of the Peninsula, we woke up to an orange sky and the ground, cars and buildings covered with a layer of dust and sand. It was a calima coming from the Sahara that has affected Spain.
This meteorological phenomenon is typical of spring and summer, but it can occur at any time of the year, affecting the production of renewable energy, and therefore your solar panels.
What happens when haze and dust affect your solar panels?
This dust, coupled with intermittent precipitation, can generate a layer of mud on the surface of the photovoltaic panels, reducing their ability to absorb the sun’s rays and causing them to reduce their output.
Given the current situation of high prices, it is important to maintain the energy output of solar panels.
These days, according to peninsular demand data provided by the country’s system operator Red Eléctrica (REE) and in the case of photovoltaic solar, generation fell by approximately two thirds.
Normally on a sunny day the maximum peak of the day exceeds 9,000 MW, but this Tuesday it barely exceeded 3,000 MW.
Why does this effect occur? Photovoltaics (unlike solar thermal) does collect diffuse radiation and has been able to produce some energy despite the sand falling on the panels.
What to do when haze and dust affect your solar panels?
Our recommendations at SolarMente:
🔸Let nature take care of it.
🔸The panels are mounted at an angle, which helps the rain to flow easily.
If this is not enough, use a water hose to clean it, as we told you in our article on maintenance and cleaning.
At SolarMente we make it easy for you. You don’t need to be an expert to be able to produce your own clean energy and at the same time generate savings. We provide you with the service you need and we take care of all the paperwork so that you can enjoy self-consumption of energy through solar energy in your home. You will be in the hands of our team of solar experts at all times!
