Solar panel cleaning – saving you money

Dirty solar panels can cause a number of issues. A build-up of dirt, moss and bird droppings can severely impact the production capabilities of your solar panels. Even the smallest bird droppings can cause shade which will be detrimental to solar panel efficiency, in fact. Hard water can also affect solar output, and any loss of production on your commercial solar panels powering will affect payback time, reduce savings and lower earning potential. We want you to save as much money as possible from the moment your solar panels are installed. 

In addition to monitoring the output of your solar PV system, we recommend that your commercial, industrial or agricultural solar panels are cleaned every 12-24 months, depending on their environment. With 75% of the year’s solar production being between April and September, we recommend cleaning your panels between mid-January and the end of March. If you keep on top of solar PV monitoring, your cleaning schedule will stay on track.

ExpoTech offers a commercial solar panel cleaning service in house and also can direct you to companies that specialise in other cleaning area. 

It is extremely important that solar panel cleaning service is undertaken by a qualified panel cleaner. Solar PV panels can be damaged easily if stood or lent upon. Too much downward pressure will cause invisible micro cracks that will significantly decrease yield. Do not, under any circumstances, use a pressure washer because it will cause damage to your solar panels.

Solar cleaning – did you know?

We completed a before-and-after study about how solar cleaning can increase energy output. The results showed a massive 9.6% increase in output following a clean.

• • The customer’s site had 168 solar panels connected identically to 2 inverters.
  • The mounted solar panels had been cleaned 12 months prior, so only 1 year of dirt build-up was present.
  • Readings were taken for 7 days and 30 days prior to the test to establish any difference in output between the inverters.
  • The 84 panels connected to inverter 1 were identified as rows 1-4 of 8. These 4 rows were cleaned by our professional solar panel cleaners and the 84 panels on rows 5-8 were left dirty.
  • 2 weeks later, readings were taken again.
  • Inverter 1 (with the clean solar panels) produced 9.6% more electricity than inverter 2 (with the dirty panels) over the 2 week period.
  • The remaining 84 panels were then cleaned.

This data is consistent with the previous year’s findings of an 8.7% increase in yield when the same trial was carried out, but with only 5 days between cleans.