Whitepaper: Photovoltaic vs. Optical Soiling Measurement

PV vs. Optical Soiling Sensors

Soiling sensor technology has evolved over the last couple years and there are now a variety of soiling measurement devices available on the market. This whitepaper will discuss the major differences between soiling sensor technologies, showcase the pitfalls of optical sensors, and examine real site data from two co-located sensors.

Soiling collection surface area

Fracsun’s ARES sensor utilizes a full 156 × 156 mm polycrystalline cell, which is industry standard size in most PV modules. Other sensors like DustIQ and MARS utilize a circular soiling measurement area. MARS has a surface area of 33 cm² and DustIQ has an area of 28 cm².