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<p>Soiling represents a key factor contributing to the deterioration of solar mirrors. This preliminary study investigates reflector soiling in Algeria, focusing on dust accumulation and the role of coating heliostats in reducing optical losses. Results show that applying a hydrophobic coating significantly decreased cleanliness losses, with the tilted mirror exhibiting a daily cleanliness gain of 0.08%, a 75% reduction in dust deposition, and a 12-day delay in reaching full cleanliness loss compared to the uncoated reference. The combined use of passive (coating) and active (cleaning at frequencies of 2–6&#xa0;weeks) mitigation strategies is also examined. The concept of temporal threshold for coating benefit is introduced and discussed, without any cleaning, this threshold is equal to one week for the tilted mirror and three weeks for the horizontal one; while under frequent cleaning, the cleaning frequency threshold is three weeks for the tilted reflector and 7.23&#xa0;weeks for the horizontal one. Dust characterization, carried out using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, revealed that the deposits consist mainly of quartz and calcite, with an average particle size of 23.67&#xa0;µm, nearly half of which (47.5%) fall within the 10–20&#xa0;µm range. As soiling is highly site-dependent, the findings of the present study are limited to the region where the exposure took place.</p>

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Evaluating the effectiveness of coatings in reducing heliostat soiling: insights from the Algerian Sahara

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月25日

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  • K. Zereg,
  • A. Gama,
  • A. Cheknane,
  • M. Zereg,
  • N. L. Panwar,
  • F. Yettou

摘要

Soiling represents a key factor contributing to the deterioration of solar mirrors. This preliminary study investigates reflector soiling in Algeria, focusing on dust accumulation and the role of coating heliostats in reducing optical losses. Results show that applying a hydrophobic coating significantly decreased cleanliness losses, with the tilted mirror exhibiting a daily cleanliness gain of 0.08%, a 75% reduction in dust deposition, and a 12-day delay in reaching full cleanliness loss compared to the uncoated reference. The combined use of passive (coating) and active (cleaning at frequencies of 2–6 weeks) mitigation strategies is also examined. The concept of temporal threshold for coating benefit is introduced and discussed, without any cleaning, this threshold is equal to one week for the tilted mirror and three weeks for the horizontal one; while under frequent cleaning, the cleaning frequency threshold is three weeks for the tilted reflector and 7.23 weeks for the horizontal one. Dust characterization, carried out using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, revealed that the deposits consist mainly of quartz and calcite, with an average particle size of 23.67 µm, nearly half of which (47.5%) fall within the 10–20 µm range. As soiling is highly site-dependent, the findings of the present study are limited to the region where the exposure took place.