WHILE the government should be applauded for its efforts to generate electricity from solar power, I wonder whether it has made provisions in the design for the periodic cleaning of panels.
Since the amount of electricity generated depends directly upon the amount of sunlight falling on the panels, that amount will be impacted significantly by the dust accumulating on the panels.
Even in a high-rainfall area like Hawaii, we recommend wiping the panels in the drier parts of the state. Remembering the amount of daily dust in Karachi, which is much more in Sukkur, the amount of dust accumulating on these panels will be high.
Unless cleaned periodically, electricity generation could fall to under 20pc of design capacity.
A viable solution might be to have an automatic water sprinkling system on all panels. And this has to be fresh water, not saline water or silt-laden canal water.
The other alternative would be to have an army of cleaners doing this job almost daily for the thousands of panels being installed.
