Why Clean Solar Panels?
Residential & Commercial Solar Cleaning Services
Solar panel cleaning and maintenance in Maryland can help residential and commercial property owners keep their solar panels free from dirt, dust, pollen, bird droppings, and other buildup. Regular maintenance helps keep your solar system operating efficiently and protects your investment over time.
Regular solar panel cleaning and maintenance helps keep your system operating efficiently and can improve energy production. Removing dirt, dust, pollen and bird droppings helps your panels receive more sunlight and maintain optimal performance.
Solar panels work by allowing light into the solar cells. The more light that hits a panel, the more power it will generate.
Why Solar Panel cleaning and maintenance matters
Can it Improve Efficiency?
We have for years now, been monitoring the increases in efficiency that solar panel cleaning can bring. We frequently see sizeable increases of solar efficiency on agricultural sites, of up to 30%. This has been proved by clients who have sent readings to prove solar panel cleaning has increased the output and efficiency of their array. Operations & maintenance departments of solar companies that we have cleaned solar panels for have also reported similar increases in efficiency from solar panel cleaning.
On industrial and commercial sites, we have seen increases of up to 60% and on residential arrays of up to 21%.
Findings by the World Academy of Science, Engineering & Technology, who says “a drop in the efficiency of a solar PV panel is not desired. One of the contributing factors in the drop of efficiency in solar PV panels is the accumulated dust on the solar panel. In practice, dust must be removed from the surface of solar PV panels in order to ensure highest performance.” Solar Energy Power Association notes that dirty solar panels can lose 20% of their energy output. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory puts that figure even higher, at 25%. Recent university research has shown that a dirty solar panel can lose 50% of it’s efficiency compared to a clean solar panel.
Why Clean Solar Panels
Why Rainwater Will Not Clean Your Solar Panels
A good way to illustrate why rainwater will not clean solar panels is by looking at your car windscreen. If you didn’t clean your windscreen for 6 months, how much visibility would you lose? If left, the grime on your windscreen would accumulate and eventually ‘green’ over. Even if the car is rained on, the rain contains airborne dust particles that settle and attach to the surface after the rainwater evaporates.
When we use our windscreen wipers, we clean the centre of the screen, but where the wipers do not reach, there is a film of dirt. The whole of your solar panel is in exactly the same condition as the edge of your car windscreen because they are both exposed to the same elements.
Visibility through your windscreen is lost due to the loss of light. Therefore, the same principles hold true for solar panel cleaning. It is very important to maximise the light getting into the solar panel and in turn, increase your financial reward.
Why Clean Solar Panels
Why Rainwater Will Not Clean Your Solar Panels
A good way to illustrate why rainwater will not clean solar panels is by looking at your car windscreen. If you didn’t clean your windscreen for 6 months, how much visibility would you lose? If left, the grime on your windscreen would accumulate and eventually ‘green’ over. Even if the car is rained on, the rain contains airborne dust particles that settle and attach to the surface after the rainwater evaporates. When we use our windscreen wipers, we clean the centre of the screen, but where the wipers do not reach, there is a film of dirt. The whole of your solar panel is in exactly the same condition as the edge of your car windscreen because they are both exposed to the same elements. Visibility through your windscreen is lost due to the loss of light. Therefore, the same principles hold true for solar panel cleaning. It is very important to maximise the light getting into the solar panel and in turn, increase your financial reward.
Learn more about solar energy and renewable energy at the U.S. Department of Energy at https://www.energy.gov/cmei/systems/photovoltaics