Comparative study of soiling effect on CSP and PV technologies under semi-arid climate in Morocco

Soiling of solar collectors reduces the efficiency of both concentrating solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic technologies (PV), and increases the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs. Many countries with significant solar potential such as Morocco are located in regions characterized by dry and harsh climatic conditions, dust storms and high pollution. This study investigates the impact of soiling on PV and CSP technologies under a semi-arid climate in BenGuerir city of Morocco. For this purpose, one year of data collected from two types of soiling sensors, a Tracking Cleanliness Sensor (TraCS) and DustIQ, was evaluated. A meteorological station installed at Green Energy Park (Morocco). A period with red rain events and a dry period were selected to quantify the impact of soiling on both technologies during these periods. It is found that the soiling effect for CSP mirrors with an annually averaged soiling rate of -1.18%/day is around 5 to 6 times higher than for PV (-0.23%/day). The loss due to soiling during red rain events has been observed more pronounced compared to the dry period.