Open Journal of Energy Efficiency, 2019, 8, 166-178 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ojee ISSN Online: 2169-2645 ISSN Print: 2169-2637 DOI: 10.4236/ojee.2019.84010 Nov. 26, 2019 166 Open Journal of Energy Efficiency Closer Approximation to Optimize Solar Panels Performance with Cleaning Cycle: A Follow-Up Rijan Karkee 1 , Sumit Khadka 2 1 Department of Physics, University of California Merced, Merced, USA 2 Department of Physics, University of Houston-Main, Houston, USA Abstract The performance of solar panels significantly degrades due to dust accumula- tion but cleaning too frequently will severely impact the financial benefits of the installation of solar panels. This paper assumes a realistic linear model for accumulation of dust on the solar panels and the resulting hourly average of absolute loss of efficiency in solar panels. This model accurately depicts the fact that energy production by solar panels occurs during sunshine hours on- ly and also accounts for the degradation in the efficiency of solar panels due to dust accumulation throughout the entire day. Based on this, the optimal number of days for maximum financial profit and the critical number of days (above which there is no profit in installing solar panels) have been estimated. Furthermore, we have suggested a formalism to help estimate the finances for self-cleaning technology for PV system and also for calculating the minimum payback period for installing solar panels with the financial cost of the clean- ing cycles properly considered. This research could be motivation for compa- nies in developing self-cleaning mechanism for PV system. Keywords Dust Accumulation, Optimal and Critical Number of Days for Cleaning Cycles, Payback Period, Self-Cleaning System 1. Introduction Photovoltaic (PV) system is emerging technology that can deliver electricity di- rectly from sunlight. As concerns for clean energy rises, PV technology is be- coming more popular. There have been numerous research efforts around the world to make PV technology better in terms of price, durability and efficiency. These efforts include investigating on properties of semiconductor, reducing How to cite this paper: Karkee, R. and Khadka, S. (2019) Closer Approximation to Optimize Solar Panels Performance with Cleaning Cycle: A Follow-Up. Open Jour- nal of Energy Efficiency, 8, 166-178. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojee.2019.84010 Received: September 22, 2019 Accepted: November 23, 2019 Published: November 26, 2019 Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access