The performance of solar panels significantly degrades due to dust accumulation\nbut cleaning too frequently will severely impact the financial benefits of\nthe installation of solar panels. This paper assumes a realistic linear model for\naccumulation of dust on the solar panels and the resulting hourly average of\nabsolute loss of efficiency in solar panels. This model accurately depicts the\nfact that energy production by solar panels occurs during sunshine hours only\nand also accounts for the degradation in the efficiency of solar panels due\nto dust accumulation throughout the entire day. Based on this, the optimal\nnumber of days for maximum financial profit and the critical number of days\n(above which there is no profit in installing solar panels) have been estimated.\nFurthermore, we have suggested a formalism to help estimate the finances for\nself-cleaning technology for PV system and also for calculating the minimum\npayback period for installing solar panels with the financial cost of the cleaning\ncycles properly considered. This research could be motivation for companies\nin developing self-cleaning mechanism for PV system.
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