The day you install solar panels, you get the best performance out of them. After that, it is all downhill. Though it might take over 40 years to get to the bottom, day one is going to be as good as it gets.
One of the causes for this is dirt. As soon as your panels are out in the open in the clean air, or not so clean air, dust will begin settling on them, blocking sunlight, reducing their efficiency, and costing you money.
The apparent solution is to pay someone for cleaning solar panels in California or get out there and clean them yourself. Often this apparent solution proves to be a sensible course of action. If a dust storm has covered your panels in dirt or pelicans have had a poop party on your roof, then it’s an excellent idea.
But most of the time solar panel cleaning services in California is not worth it as the average increase in output from cleaning panels is very small, considering the time and risk of injury if you do it yourself or how much you will have to pay to get it done, under usual circumstances it is not cost-effective.
It makes more sense to just install a slightly larger system to compensate for the minor loss that results from grime than it does to pay someone to clean them. Or if your system is already installed, spending money on energy efficiency is far more cost-effective than paying people to clean your panels.
Usual Grime Hardly Affects Solar Panels
Dirt on solar panels normally has very little effect on their performance. In some places, rainfall is enough to keep solar panels clean. Grime will build up, but eventually, there will be sufficient rain to wash most of it off.
Cleaning in addition to what is done naturally by rain will increase panel output since on average they will have even less dirt on them, but it doesn’t help much.
Research in the United States found that solar power system cleaning in California just improved their output by almost 1%. This is in a location that only receives a little more rainfall.
This doesn’t suggest that in your specific area cleaning panels will only improve average performance by 1%. You might happen to live in a dirty, dirty place or have lots of birds trying to turn your roof into the site of a future guano mine.
Flat Panels Are an Exception – They Need Cleaning
Rain will wash most of the dirt off panels, but only if they are at an angle. When solar panels lie flat water can pool on them and have nowhere to go. Gradually it evaporates and leaves grime behind. Worse, things such as leaves and other debris can land on solar panels and just stay there and seriously affect performance. A thin layer of grime will let most lights pass through, but a leaf is specifically designed to capture light. After all, it is a naturally occurring type of solar panel.
To avoid these issues, and because it is bad to have any electronic item sitting in water for an extended period, it is a very good idea to put solar panels on flat roofs in frames that tilt them at least 10 degrees.
If your panels aren’t tilted then you’ll need to clean them if you wish to keep their performance up.
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