Engineering & procurement functions need #unbiased data to build a bill of materials. While other BOM analysis tool… https://t.co/fqb3lHYTr8
Discover more about S&P Global’s offerings
Obtain the data you need to make the most informed decisions by accessing our extensive portfolio of information, analytics, and expertise. Sign in to the product or service center of your choice.
Customer LoginsA leading renewable energy corporation operating 45+ solar energy farms across the world
VP of Innovation, Design Engineers, Research and Development
The solar energy market has grown at an exponential rate in recent years, with the industry experiencing a rapid cost decline of 85% in the past decade alone1. Although solar energy is increasingly accessible, the industry still faces challenges and growing pains. A surprisingly tricky problem is impacting the conversion of solar energy across the globe: dust on the panels. Referred to in the industry as solar panel "soiling", solar farms in all regions of the world are experiencing this common issue. Photovoltaic (PV) power generation is inhibited by dust and pollution particles accumulating on the surfaces of the panels, leading to radiation transmission losses of 2-50% depending on the region in which the solar farm is located2. In 2019, the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics calculated that global soiling transmission losses are 3-4%, which will cost the world a predicted $4.1-7.2 billion in 20233.
Although the answer may seem simple - to clean the panels - this solution is costly in terms of:
As air quality worsens due to pollution and climate change, some regions experience higher transmission losses than others. Our client owns and operates over 45 solar farms with thousands of panels, located in very humid regions of the world with considerable amounts of dust and pollutants in the air. The engineering team needed to find a way to keep the panels from becoming covered in sticky dust to improve the energy conversion rate of their solar farms. They turned to Goldfire, an S&P product they relied on consistently for things like solar panel layout, installation, and other tasks, to see if it could help them here as well.
The VP of Innovation tasked the engineering team with finding
solutions across disciplines, specifically looking at solutions
found in nature. The team set out to look for water-repellent
properties that could be reproduced in a laboratory and fitted to
the conditions of their solar panel systems.
They came to S&P Global Engineering Solutions
with the following challenges:
Equipped with Goldfire's cognitive search abilities, the team turned to the world of plants to find an answer. They surfaced relevant pieces of information across multiple engineering disciplines and scientific industries. Within 2 days, Goldfire pinpointed a key finding in a 2019 article discussing superhydrophobic surfaces, which led the team to the answer they needed. In this publication, the authors spoke about the ability for the lotus leaf to self-clean, shedding water droplets, dirt, and other particles due to the multi-scaled waxy bumps on its leaves. This is known as the "lotus effect".
The team then located a second paper from 2015 describing a super hydrophobic transparent coating that could be used as a paint on cars, marine equipment, wind turbines - and solar panels. Based on the chemical properties of the lotus plant, a manufacturer had developed this superhydrophobic coating that mimicked the lotus effect, creating a self-cleaning mechanism for whatever surface it was used on. When applied to a solar panel, the water droplets and dust particles would simply roll off the panel, rather than attaching and cementing to the surface.
Our client surfaced this research using Goldfire, leveraging knowledge that had formed over billions of years in nature toward a new innovation in alternative energy and renewable energy.
Goldfire is powered by state-of-the-art machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) technologies, which enable it to connect information across industries and disciplines - much like the way a human brain makes cognitive connections.
Our client surfaced the answer they needed within 2 days of starting their search. Without Goldfire, the answer would have taken them weeks or months to find.
Through Goldfire's indexed patents, the research team was able to locate a manufacturer of the paint mimicking the lotus effect and passed this information along to their product team, who could then apply the knowledge to their existing products.
With the help of S&P Global Engineering Solutions, the research team:
1 2022 Renewable Energy Industry Outlook. Deloitte, Mar
2022.
2 Power loss due to soiling on solar panel: A review.
Maghami et al, Universiti Putra Malaysia, June 2016.
3 Techno-Economic Assessment of Soiling Losses and Mitigation
Strategies for Solar Power Generation. Ilse et. al, Fraunhofer
Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP, Sept 2019.
4 Scientists Studying Solar Try Solving a Dusty Problem.
National Renewable Energy Lab, Apr 2021.
Engineering & procurement functions need #unbiased data to build a bill of materials. While other BOM analysis tool… https://t.co/fqb3lHYTr8
ASME provides essential standards for engineers in the #medicaldevices and #biotech industries. Discover the latest… https://t.co/G728HsIbLM
Get TIA-568.1 today from the Standards Store, which includes all amendments and changes through Addendum 1, March 2… https://t.co/rXJvtHFLUn
This #GreenEnergy company lost up to 50% of its energy due to dust & pollutants attaching to #solar panels. Enginee… https://t.co/hpsGQDL8Ea