Incorporation of local soiling sources in soiling forecast model for PV power plants

Your mission:

Start your career with an interesting thesis or internship at DLR Solar Research Institute, one of the world’s leading institutions in the field of solar technology!

You are passionate about renewable energies and energy transition? Then join our team!

The efficiency of photovoltaic power plants is negatively affected by the accumulation of aerosol particles on the module surfaces. For the operation of photovoltaic power plants, the resulting efficiency and the costs spent on cleaning the modules play an important role. In order to optimize the cleaning schedules, it is essential to predict the soiling losses of the solar collectors. DLR’s soiling forecast model estimates the number of particles that settle on a solar collector’s surface and has to consider the impact of local sources like e.g. mines, agriculture, pollen, grass cutting or bird droppings.

During the thesis, you will address the inclusion of the effects from these and other local soiling sources in the soiling forecast. You will perform the following tasks:

• Literature research on local sources and their impact on soiling
• Development of ideas on how to incorporate local sources in the soiling model
• Implementation and inclusion of local sources in the soiling model

You will be closely integrated into our diverse and highly motivated team in the “Solar Energy Meteorology group” located in Almería (Spain). An experienced colleague will closely work together with you and support you throughout the entire work. The project will be aligned with the responsible professor of your university.

We are always keen to improve our recruiting process: Please refer in your application letter through which platform we caught your attention!

Your qualifications:

• You are looking for a final thesis project or an internship of a technical bachelor or master program in the field of physics, meteorology, engineering, computer science, natural science or similar.
• You convince us with above-average study results and in the ideal case knowledge on solar technology.
• You have interest in modeling a complex problem and basic knowledge about data analysis.
• You have programming experience in Python.
• You have the ability to work in a team and individually in a scientific and systematic way.
• You are used to work in a structured way and continuous improvement drives you.
• English language skills are necessary for studying scientific literature.