Cases
Not only used on photovoltaic panels
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SystemIntelligent Control System
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PlaceXinghua City, Jiangsu Province, China
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DateApril 8, 2025
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ApplicationIntelligent Coordinated PV Cleaning
Project background
With the rapid development of clean energy and the advancement of carbon neutrality goals, photovoltaic power generation has become an important pathway for energy transition. Agrivoltaics, as an innovative model integrating solar power generation with agriculture and aquaculture, enables dual land use and dual benefits by installing photovoltaic panels above planting or farming areas.
In this project, the photovoltaic power station is installed above rice–crayfish co-cultivation fields. While this model improves land utilization efficiency, the PV modules are exposed to a complex outdoor environment for a long time. Dust, bird droppings, pollen, fertilizer spray, water vapor, algae attachment, and agricultural residues can accumulate on the panel surface, reducing light transmittance and causing power generation losses.
Traditional cleaning methods such as manual wiping and high-pressure water washing often involve high labor costs, low efficiency, high water consumption, potential module damage, and possible interference with rice cultivation and crayfish farming. Therefore, the customer required a professional cleaning solution that could be efficient, water-saving, intelligent, eco-friendly, and compatible with agricultural production activities.
Customer Pain Points
The project site is a large agrivoltaic power station built above rice–crayfish co-cultivation fields. Due to farmland dust, fertilizer spray, algae attachment, water vapor, and other contaminants, the estimated annual power generation efficiency loss reached approximately 18%.
Manual cleaning was difficult and costly. Frequent field entry by workers could compact the soil, affect rice growth, and disturb crayfish activity. High-pressure water cleaning consumed large amounts of water and could splash sludge onto the back side of the PV modules, causing secondary contamination.
There were also conflicts between cleaning schedules and key agricultural activities such as rice growth stages, fertilization periods, and crayfish harvesting. In addition, ordinary river water or untreated surface water contained impurities, which could leave stains or residues on the panel surface if used directly for cleaning.
Project introduction
For this agrivoltaic industrial park, Yingcai New Materials provided a customized “rail-mounted intelligent cleaning system + agricultural activity-linked smart scheduling” solution.
The solution integrated intelligent cleaning equipment, purified water treatment, flexible cleaning materials, IoT monitoring, remote control, and smart coordination with agricultural production schedules. It was designed to improve solar panel cleanliness and power generation efficiency while avoiding interference with rice cultivation and crayfish farming below the PV structure.
The cleaning system operates above the photovoltaic support structure and performs precise, full-coverage cleaning without entering the field below. This ensures efficient solar panel maintenance while protecting agricultural and aquaculture production activities.
Cleaning Equipment and Process
The project adopted intelligent navigation-based cleaning robots or rail-mounted automatic cleaning machines. Lightweight rails were installed on the PV support structure, allowing the cleaning equipment to move steadily along each row and achieve precise positioning and full-coverage cleaning.
The cleaning process combines dry cleaning and wet cleaning. For daily maintenance, flexible roller brushes are used for dry cleaning to remove floating dust. For stubborn stains, micro-water mist spraying can be used periodically, with optional biodegradable cleaning agents
when necessary.
Purified water or filtered water is used instead of hard water to prevent scale formation on the solar panel surface. All brushes and contact components are made of ultra-soft materials, ensuring strong cleaning performance while avoiding scratches, abrasion, or damage to the panel surface and coating layer.
Intelligent Control System
The cleaning solution is supported by an IoT-based monitoring platform that tracks power generation efficiency, weather conditions, rainfall, dust levels, and other environmental data in real time. Through data analysis, the system predicts contamination levels and automatically generates optimized cleaning schedules.
The platform supports remote control and automatic dispatching, enabling unattended operation, one-click startup, scheduled cleaning, and remote monitoring of equipment status and cleaning progress.
The system is also connected with the agricultural production management schedule of the industrial park. Important activities such as fertilization days, rice growth stages, and crayfish harvesting periods can be marked in the system, allowing cleaning tasks to automatically avoid these time windows. Cleaning is preferably arranged during early morning or evening hours to reduce water evaporation and avoid high-temperature operating conditions.
Water Source and Environmental Plan
The solution prioritizes the use of existing farm or aquaculture water resources, such as ponds, reservoirs, or irrigation systems. Before cleaning, the water is treated through a compact multi-stage filtration system, including sand filtration and fine filtration, to provide qualified cleaning water.
Where site conditions allow, an optional water recycling system can be installed. The used cleaning water can be collected, settled, filtered, and reused, greatly reducing water consumption.
All cleaning agents used in the project are biodegradable and environmentally friendly. They are safe for soil, water bodies, crops, crayfish, and the surrounding ecosystem, helping the project meet green and low-carbon operation requirements.
Implementation Plan
For this industrial park, Yingcai deployed an intelligent rail-mounted cleaning system combined with agricultural activity-linked smart scheduling.
First, lightweight rails were installed on each row of photovoltaic supports. The cleaning machine moves along the rails at a stable speed, achieving accurate positioning and full-coverage cleaning.
Second, the project used the existing irrigation water source of the park and added a multi-stage filtration system to ensure that the cleaning water met the required quality standard.
Third, the cleaning control platform was connected with the agricultural production management system. Fertilization days, harvesting periods, and other key farming activities were marked in the system so that cleaning tasks could automatically avoid these periods.
Finally, the cleaning frequency was optimized according to actual contamination conditions. The system was configured to perform dry brush cleaning twice per month and micro-water deep cleaning once per quarter. During the dusty spring season and after autumn fertilization, the cleaning frequency can be automatically increased.
Project Results
After implementation, the average cleanliness of the photovoltaic panels remained above 95%, and annual power generation increased by approximately 15%.
Based on an estimated annual power generation of 120 million kWh, the project can generate about 18 million additional kWh per year, directly increasing electricity revenue by more than RMB 10 million. The investment payback period is relatively short, and in most cases, the cleaning system investment can be recovered within one to two years through increased power generation.
The solution also significantly reduced operation and maintenance costs. Labor costs were reduced by more than 70% because the cleaning process became automated and largely unmanned, requiring only a small number of operators for equipment maintenance and monitoring.
Compared with traditional high-pressure water cleaning, the intelligent micro-water cleaning technology reduced water consumption by more than 60%, which is especially valuable in areas with limited water resources.
Gentle cleaning also helped avoid scratches and microcracks on the PV modules, and the module service life is expected to be extended by one to two years.
Customer value
Agricultural and Fishery Coordination Value
The cleaning equipment operates above the photovoltaic support structure and does not interfere with rice growth or crayfish activity below. By linking the cleaning schedule with the agricultural calendar, the system effectively resolves the conflict between power station maintenance and farming operations.
The use of purified water and biodegradable cleaning agents ensures that the cleaning process has no negative impact on paddy field water quality, crayfish ponds, soil, crops, or the surrounding ecological environment.
This solution enables true coordinated development between solar power generation and rice–crayfish farming, helping the project achieve both energy efficiency and agricultural productivity.
Intelligent Management Value
Through the data platform, the customer can clearly monitor contamination loss rates, cleaning effectiveness, and power generation gains in each section of the power station.
This transforms photovoltaic operation and maintenance from an experience-driven model into a data-driven management model. It provides strong technical support for precise maintenance, scientific decision-making, and long-term benefit maximization.
Social and Environmental Benefits
The project improved the overall operating efficiency and demonstration value of land-sharing agrivoltaic applications. It has become a local reference case for the integration of renewable energy and modern agriculture.
By saving a large amount of cleaning water and reducing manual intervention, the project supports green, low-carbon, and environmentally responsible operation. It also provides a practical model for the coordinated development of new energy systems and modern agricultural production.
Customer Testimonial
“This intelligent cleaning system is not only an efficiency booster for our power station, but also a stabilizer for the agrivoltaic model. It perfectly solved the long-standing coordination challenges between solar power generation and agricultural production. Power generation and farming no longer conflict with each other, and we have truly achieved a result where one plus one is greater than two. The increase in power generation is highly encouraging, and the integration of smart agriculture and smart energy has delivered real results here.”
Summary
This case demonstrates that a professional photovoltaic cleaning solution tailored to agrivoltaic and fishery-integrated scenarios is not only a technical guarantee for maintaining high-efficiency power station operation, but also a key factor in achieving simultaneous improvements in economic benefits, ecological value, and operational efficiency.
Through technological innovation, the solution overcame management challenges in multi-use land scenarios and provided strong support for the integrated development of modern agriculture and new energy systems.
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