Ecoppia Selected for Five New Solar Projects, Takes Global Leadership

Ecoppia’s robotic water-free solution has cleaned over 3 million panels to-date.

Ecoppia, an innovative developer of automated, water-free photovoltaic (PV) solar panel cleaning solutions, today announced the deployment of its E4 robotic solar panel cleaning system at five Middle Eastern PV production facilities. Upon the projects’ completion in early 2015, Ecoppia’s technology will clean more than 5 million panels every month, deployed across more than 40 MW of installations.

The new additions to Ecoppia’s portfolio are owned by Arava Power Company, a leading solar developer based in Israel. The five PV newest Ecoppia E4 deployments are at solar production facilities located in the harsh Arava and Negev deserts, both are notably arid, receive very little rain, and suffer frequent dust storms originating in Saudi Arabia and the Sahara desert.

“Based on stellar results recorded from our Ketura Sun 5 MW project, where Ecoppia technology has been cleaning the site daily since January, and showing increased production as expected, we took the decision to deploy Ecoppia technology on five additional sites,” said Jon Cohen, CEO of Arava Power Company. “ Ecoppia technology has proven to be totally reliable, customer service to be outstanding, and of course we are meeting our financial expectations, so we are set to continue to deploy Ecoppia technology on additional sites in the near future.”

Desert-sited PV systems suffer from frequent dust storms and minimal rain, which can reduce output by up to 35 percent. Ecoppia’s water-free technology uses a soft microfiber and controlled airflow to cost-effectively remove 99 percent of solar panel dust daily, maintaining optimal production levels year-round. The self-charging, self-cleaning units are supported by a robust control system to enable remote programming, management and monitoring.

“When we work with forward-thinking companies like Arava Power, we can see the impact our technology is making in the renewable energy industry,” said Eran Meller, CEO of Ecoppia. “By ensuring high day-to-day performance and an accelerated ROI from their solar assets, we’ve created a new standard for plant output that is changing the way operators, investors and governments view the benefits of solar power.”