Dust has ...bedeviled solar installations on Earth. For example, dust storms have cut power production by 40 percent at a large, 10-megawatt solar power plant in the United Arab Emirates. Washing the panels can be time-consuming or require costly automation--and it takes a lot of water, a precious resource in the desert. "With this new technology, solar panels can be automatically cleaned without water or labor," Mazumder says. The system takes advantage of the fact that most dust particles, particularly in dry environments, have an electric charge. A transparent electrode material such as indium tin oxide delivers an alternating current to the top surface of the panel. As it swings between being positively and negatively charged, it creates an electric field that repels positively and negatively charged particles. The electric field also helps to impart a charge to uncharged dust particles, allowing them to be quickly repelled as they come in contact with the panel. The researchers have designed the system so that the electric field works its way from one side of the solar panel to the other, gradually moving the dust along until it falls off. Read on at: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/26116/
