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During their operation in Concentrated Solar Power plants (CSP), solar reflectors are exposed to harsh climatic conditions which cause their degradation. Surface damage caused by direct impact or by mechanical contact cleaning is among phenomena that decrease the optical performance of solar mirrors. This degradation is directly related to the exposure site properties. Up to now, no standardized mechanical durability standard exists related to the site exposure conditions. The originality of the present study is to find out which geological and climatic parameters are influencing the surface wear rate of the solar mirrors and to define an approach to determine these parameters on each potential implantation site. This approach was applied on two sites in Morocco with more than 500 km between them: a desert site and a seaside site.

The aim of this work is to identify the influencing parameters on the surface damage phenomenon. Additional studies are ongoing in this direction to define a criterion to evaluate bow external conditions of an implantation site can affect the surface damage of solar mirrors and to define the weighting of the parameters to get a "level of surface damage" of each potential site.

By analyzing the exposure conditions impact on mirror’s surface damage, the sustainability of the solar reflectors can be determined. The present study can also help the investors to optimize the performance of the solar power plant by choosing the appropriate technology and materials for each implementation site. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.