Can anti-soiling coating on solar glass influence the degree of performance loss over time of PV modules drastically

The soiling of photovoltaic (PV) modules is an important issue regarding PV module power output. Depending on the environmental conditions, the different surface structures and anti-reflection coatings, which are applied on the glass in order to increase the annual gain of a PV module, may turn non-effective and glass transmittance may decrease below the level of unstructured or uncoated glass. Former investigations revealed enormous decreases in efficiency due to heavy soiling, up to -80% within a period of 6 month. Therefore, anti-soiling coatings, which aim to reduce these losses, are a very interesting and promising topic. The market for anti-soiling coatings was screened. Different commercialy available anti-soiling coatings are investigated regarding their functionality, their initial anti-soiling efficiency as well as in terms of weathering stability. A profitability analysis for a simulated 10 MW PV power plant is implemented in regard to the anti-soiling yield gain. The coated PV glazings show different susceptibilities to the soiling test methods. This indicates a variation in wettability of the coatings, monitored by contact angle tests during the intercourse of the study.