Osmotised water in solar power systems

 The generation of electricity with the aid of solar panels is part of the alternative energy revolution that is taking place in countries all over the world.
There are two factors that affect the performance of solar panels:

1) The Temperature
In areas with lots of sunshine the temperature on the surface of the panels can reach up to 70°C, causing a reduction in the region of 20 ÷ 25% of the amount of energy produced.
Normally the reference temperature stated by makers of solar panels is 25°C. Above this value the loss of power is 0.5% for every °C of increase.

2) Dirt on the surface of the panels
Atmospheric dust, smog and smoke create a patina on the surface of solar panels that reduces the effect of the sunlight and consequently the amount of energy produced.

REMEDIES

The solar panel installation must be equipped with a spray system using recyclable osmotised water (with no salts) that is able to reduce the temperature of the cells and at the same time keep the surfaces of the panels constantly clean. (cleaning and washing solar panels)

The water produced by an Idroconsult SM Series Reverse osmosis plant has a conductivity of 10 ÷ 20 µS/cm and so leaves no traces of salts on the surfaces sprayed, thereby keeping the production of energy constantly efficient.
The flow rate of cooling water is on average 30 m3/h for a 500 Kw solar energy installation.

TREATMENT CYCLE

The size of the Reverse Osmosis plant takes the following factors into consideration:

• characteristics of the well water to be treated
• volume of the osmotised water storage tank
• cooling water flow rate
• volume of water evaporated on contact with the surface of the solar panels
• volume of water recycled every day

The energy absorbed by the Reverse Osmosis plant is around 1 ÷ 1.5 Kw for every m3 of water treated with an incidence of 2% on the maximum power supplied by the system.
A system of microfiltration of the recycled water is also added to capture traces of dust removed from the solar panels.
The system created by Idroconsult, tested in large thermal power stations, allows also the Solar Energy sector to operate always at maximum efficiency and productivity levels with minimum running and maintenance costs.