In a country with almost 1.4 billion people, there is a large amount of pressure on natural resources. In the recent past India has been a victim of severe water shortage. According to a 2018 NITI Aayog report, India is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history, and millions of lives are at risk because of it. Currently, 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress, and the crisis is only going to get worse. By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying a severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people which count account for an eventual six percent loss to the country’s GDP. At a time like this, when it comes to renewable energy, the country has turned towards solar and wind energy as they not only curb air pollution but also tend to use less water compared to thermal generation.

That said, solar projects do use some water primarily for cleaning panels. Cleaning of solar modules is a big challenge for developers, especially in arid and dry zones where water is scarce, particularly water that is suitable for cleaning solar modules.

The life of solar modules is usually guaranteed for 25 years, and throughout its life span, cleaning is essential for efficient power generation, which ultimately impacts the bottom line.

Authorities have also noticed increased water usage in solar projects. Last year, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) recommended the efficient utilization of water for cleaning utility-scale solar projects. The ministry said that project developers are currently using too much water to clean solar modules, and they should try and minimize wastage. The ministry also recommended the use of robotic cleaning technology.

Several robotic technologies have entered the market that provides a cost-effective method to clean solar panels as compared to manual cleaning. Some of the more common types of robotic cleaning systems include: module cleaning robots, driving robots, and AI-enabled robots.

Aayushman Goyal, senior management, product development at Ganges Internationale, said, “The latest technologies include trolleys that can facilitate movement between two rows in a plant, which will bring down the CAPEX (capital expenditure) significantly. Infusion of thermal imaging cameras with robotic cleaners is another new technology that will shape the future, as it gives plant owners the ability to detect and fix any hotspots that may arise on their modules.”

The application of robotic cleaning solutions is slowly gaining acceptance, and it becomes more economical when the project sizes increase. The larger the project, the higher the cost of manual labour for panel cleaning which is driving utility-scale developers and solar park operators to opt for automated cleaning solutions.

Manish Kumar Das, director of business at Skilancer says, “Approximately 2 litres of water is required to clean a single panel per cycle and typically 3200 panels are installed in a 1 MW plant. Now for every cleaning cycle, approximately 6,400 litres of water is required per cleaning cycle. So, typically 12,800 litres of water per month are saved using a robotic cleaning system. Taking the case of 1 MW installation, the developer can save up to ?700,000 annually,” he adds.

With low labour costs in India, it might take a while before robotic cleaning completely replaces manual cleaning, but as the costs of these solutions decrease, more developers are opting for this new technology. The scarcity of water will make the move toward waterless robotic cleaning inevitable.