News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power. Parent comment

Re:Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power by Retric on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @07:57AM (#16627718)
Dust is a killer for consitrating solar power, but much less so for PV. You can also clean them with minimal water useage. It's just a tradeoff of how much desalination is worth it for efficiency gains.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power by emiliobumachar on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @08:38AM (#16627972)
Interesting. How about "cleaning" them with salt water? Sure the salt on the panels is not ideal, but it's better than dust.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power by Retra on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @09:44AM (#16628461)
Saltwater tends to be lead to corrosion, which is expensive to deal with.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power by raverbashing on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @09:00AM (#16628134)
Salt water + electricity = not good

Study mentions up to 50% of efficiency decrease after 6mo

Seems like the best solution would be mechanical cleaning (either automatic or manual)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power by pjc50 on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @10:07AM (#16628639)
The panels are sealed against ingress in any case.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power by ams6110 on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @09:07AM (#16628187)
Gaskets + insulators = problem solved.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power by ams6110 on Tuesday March 20, 2018 @09:06AM (#16628179)
Some sort of "spray and squeegee" system would likely even remove most of the salt. Windshield wipers for PV panels?
[ Parent | on HN ]