EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Solar energy developers eyeing parts of Southern New Mexico may not have to worry about dust after all.
That’s according to a new study led by University of Texas at El Paso researchers.
According to the study, photovoltaic panels in Alamogordo — an area battered by frequent dust storms carrying particles from the gypsum dune field at White Sands — lose only 2 to 3 percent of their power output due to dust accumulation, a rate far lower than that of solar facilities in comparable desert regions across the world.
The findings, published in the journal Atmosphere in April, carry direct implications for the economics of solar energy in the Chihuahuan Desert, the team said. Because dust-related losses at the study site are modest, and because light rainfall proved sufficient to restore panel performance, operators of solar facilities in the area may be able to clean their panels far less frequently than those at sites in the Middle East, Iran, or China — where soiling losses can reach 10 to 80 percent…