干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

SolFocus' product has been in operation at Victor Valley Community College at the southern edge of the Mojave Desert for more than nine months, and we have analyzed energy output and performance ratios with the goal of better understanding and mitigating the effects of soiling on energy production. We have identified two different soiling mechanisms - particles deposited vertically at night and particles blown horizontally - that have different effects on soiling rates of the NIP and the systems. We have also estimated seasonal variations in soiling rates, and have found significant variation in system soiling across a single field. Local terrain features play a major role, as do short-term events such as rainfall.