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PV Plant Operations · Cleaning Method Comparison

SunTrac vs SunShiner

The tractor-mounted SunTrac system cleans row by row at 3 km/h across an 8-hour daily shift. The stationary SunShiner system assigns a dedicated robot to every row — all units start simultaneously at 0.3 m/s. Watch plant output climb from 0% to 100% as the array is cleared.

Playback speed affects the animation only — every figure below (completion time, hours, kWh) is always computed in real time and does not depend on it.
SunTrac Tractor-Mounted System
1 unit · 3 km/h · serpentine path
8 h shift/day · 1.5 min turnaround between rows
0%
0 kW
Day 1 · on shift
Sunlight & SunTrac shift
Sunlight SunTrac shift (cleaning active) Idle / night
Elapsed (real time) 0h Time to 100% —
SunShiner Stationary Systems
6 units · 0.3 m/s
one per row · operating in parallel, 24/7
0%
0 kW
All units running
Elapsed (real time) 0h Time to 100% —
Plant capacity
—
SunTrac completion time
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SunShiner completion time
—
SunShiner time advantage
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Extra energy with SunShiner
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Value per cleaning cycle
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Total value per season
—
Total plant output over time
SunTrac SunShiner
Time axis spans one full SunTrac cleaning cycle.
What if the panels are never cleaned?

Snow sheds on its own over several days, gradually uncovering the panels from 100% coverage down to a residual level — and stays there until the next snowfall. The plant permanently loses part of its output, which SunTrac and SunShiner fully recover.

Output ceiling without cleaning
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SunTrac vs no cleaning — extra energy
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SunTrac vs no cleaning — value per season
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SunShiner vs no cleaning — extra energy
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SunShiner vs no cleaning — value per season
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SunTrac SunShiner No cleaning
This chart uses its own time axis covering the full snow-shedding period, so its scale differs from the chart above.
Model assumptions: equal row lengths, constant travel speed, SunTrac serpentine path with a 1.5-min turnaround between rows, SunTrac operates 8 h per 24-h day, SunShiner units run continuously.
Power model: 1.2 m of panel row = 1 kW of capacity. Generation is only possible during the sunlight hours set above — at all other times output is 0 regardless of panel cleanliness. Even with fully clean panels, output is capped by the “% of nameplate” factor (e.g., in winter due to sun angle). Energy is the integral of power (kW) over real time (h), reported in kWh.
Economics: value per cleaning cycle = extra energy (kWh) × tariff ($/kWh). Total per season = value per cleaning cycle × number of cleaning cycles per season.