Ashis Parida February 21, 2018
Ecoppia, the developer of robotic water-free PV solar panel cleaning solutions, has announced today, February 19, the deployment of hundreds of its automated systems for Engie Solar India’s power plant in Bhadla solar park, totaling 166 MW.
Of the 2.25 GW installed at the Bhadla Solar Park, located in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan state in India, the company aims to cover 1 GW with its sustainable cleaning solution, and over 2 GW across India by the end of 2018, Anat Cohen Segev, VP Marketing, Ecoppia informed pv magazine.
Located in a vast desert area, the Bhadla Solar Park is prone to frequent dust storms, which can reduce energy generation by as much as 40% in a matter of minutes. Such innovative solutions are essential in keeping plants running at their peak production levels, and obtaining payback on time.
Commenting, Anat said, “Ecoppia’s water free robotic solution, the E4, is used not only in Engie’s project in Bhadla, but also in additional sites in India and the Middle East.”
She added, “In fact, this exact solution had cleaned over 220 million solar panels to date.” In addition to Bhadla park, the following are the sites where Ecoppia has also deployed its E4 PV cleaning solution: the SunEdison/TerraForm site in Gujarat; the Adani Power site in Tamil Nadu; NTPC’s site in Haryana; and various sites in the Middle East.
Ecoppia cooperated closely with Engie throughout the design and deployment process to maximize rollout efficiency and optimize return on investment.
The company claims that Ecoppia’s E4 is the only solution able to maintain peak energy production and restore panels post-storm in just hours – without water or external electricity consumption. With its deployment in Bhadla, Engie is expected to save over 1.5 billion of liters of water, and notably reduce its operating expenses.
“We expect to harness Ecoppia’s revolutionary cleaning system to raise output and lower costs dramatically. This type of technological breakthrough not only benefits our business interests, but the solar energy sector as a whole,” Engie Solar India commented.
Source: https://www.pv-magazine-india.com/2018/02/19/ecoppia-deploys-water-free-robotic-solution-to-clean-1-gw-pv-plant-in-rajasthan/
