Concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies are foreseen to be a crucial actor in the future\nrenewable energy mix. Soil accumulation on the optical surfaces of CSP plants involves significant\nexpenses of the operation and maintenance activities because a high cleanliness level is required\nto achieve proper plant revenues. Normally, only the front side of the solar reflectors is cleaned\nto reflect the maximum possible amount of direct solar radiation towards the receiver. However,\nsoil deposited on the backside of the reflector could provoke degradation and might need to be\nconsidered in the cleaning strategy. As this possible degradation has never been studied, this work\nis dedicated to assess if the backside of reflectors should be regularly cleaned. The influence of\nthe sand in the possible paint degradation depends on its chemical composition and the weather\nconditions. Therefore, several climatic conditions of artificially soiled reflector samples with different\ntypes of sand were simulated in accelerated aging tests. Concerning the results obtained, the ambient\nconditions simulated by the damp heat and thermal cycling tests were the only ones that produced a\nsignificant degradation of the backside paints. Also, the sand from Ouarzazate was responsible for\nhigher deterioration.
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