iPanelKlean: Innovative Cleaning Technology for Massive Solar Production Gains

Having visited a lot of solar plants recently, one thing I have learned to check for is the dust on them. Surprisingly, many plants (particularly sub-utility scale) have excessive soiling leading to significant underperformance. Today's deep-tech startup, ipanelKlean provides a sustainable and affordable solar panel cleaning alternative.

Suchin Jain is an innovator and entrepreneur, who was grappling with the problem of dust removal to improve power generation of solar plants and was worried about safety of cleaning workers who worked at heights on high voltage DC solar plants during strong winds and elevated surface temperatures. That’s when he experimented with the idea and came up with iPanelklean, which was granted patent and has now gained significant traction within India and internationally.

iPanelKlean, a patented technology that uses nano coatings to help make panels slippery and then compressed air is blown over the panels multiple times a day to keep them clean.

Particularly for rooftop systems where regular cleaning is challenging for practical or safety reasons, there can be a substantial improvement in power generation, at negligible additional cost. Furthermore, there can be additional benefits in terms of water saved (for cleaning) as well as safety in terms of reducing risk of injury for rooftop workers.

Large-scale utility projects can also use robotic cleaning, but iPanel has the potential to be substantially lower cost and with less moving parts less risk of breakdown. Furthermore, the system can be installed on panels with trackers, which will become increasingly important in the coming years.

As renewable energy becomes a more sigificant source of power, it is crucial that we maximize ouput while minimizing the potential environmental costs (eg. water). iPanelKlean has already been installed on over a dozen projects and I am excited to see them expand in India and offer their services around the world, particularly in cities and regions of Africa and Middle East where soiling has a huge adverse impact on performance.