Top Reasons Why Solar Panels Experience Current Blockages
There are plenty of reasons why you should keep your solar panels clean, but the only reason that matters is this — clean solar panels are efficient solar panels. People like their windows clean, so it should make sense why your solar panels should not be an exception. The issue here is when do you need to give your solar panels more care and how. The maintenance of the solar panels is one issue that has baffled most solar panel owners.
For those who do not want to clean their panels, they can hire an agency for solar panel cleaning. For those who wish to push the extra mile, you need to know how to handle your panels to avoid damaging it and hurting yourself. In both cases, knowledge of the maintenance job and its process is necessary to understand its urgency and importance.
Main sources of dirt
Before you get ready or call in the professionals, you need to know what to use to clean your panels and how to use them. Aside from that, you also have to identify the primary sources of dirt. Based on stories from homeowners with solar panels, water, leaves, and dust are the familiar sources and reasons for solar panel blockages.
If you are asking whether or not dust can cause regular solar panel problems or just the grime build-up over the years, the answer is it depends on where you live and what is the root cause. A bit of dust may not have a detrimental effect on your panels since light can still get through. In such cases, it is highly advocated to leave everything to nature. Let the rain do most of the solar panel cleaning tasks.
If your solar panel is always clean, you can lessen your energy bill by five per cent or more. Say, for example, in a 5 kW system, this is equivalent to $20 offset in your energy bill. Some homeowners also shared that when they thoroughly cleaned their solar panels, it became 3.5% more efficient.
If this is not enough to assure you, CleanTechnica, a clean technology website, reported that the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that if solar panels are not cleaned properly, it can result in a possible 30% loss in energy yield per year.
Clean panels mean more energy.
Leaves can also block the light captured by your solar panels. In some experiments carried by solar panel manufacturers and installers, they found out that cleaning flat solar panels can double the amount of energy it can capture overnight. Just imagine how much energy your solar panel will be captured in a month or year. And though rain can clean your solar panels naturally, you cannot leave it all to the skies. You have to do your share. If you cannot clean your solar panels, call the professionals to take care of your solar panel cleaning needs.
In cleaning, you have to give special attention to PV arrays in dustier solar panel areas. This is true if you live near a main road or farmland. These solar panels get more dirt and dust and thus will also require more frequent cleaning.
Bird droppings
If there is one thing that solar panels consider as their mortal enemy, then that is bird dropping. Bird droppings are more detrimental to your solar panel compared to a film of dust. In cleaning bird droppings, you have to check first if your solar panel has a micro-inverter or string inverter. This is crucial because solar panels with micro-inverters can show which panel has been filled with droppings. You will know where you need to clean if you see where your inverter will also stop showing the flow of current.
If you live in areas with deciduous trees, you can already expect leaves dropping from these trees to your panels. You can expect birds flocking, too.
The takeaway
Keeping your solar panels regularly clean will not only save you lots of money on maintenance and repair, but it will also protect you from the possibility of having to replace your panels regularly. On top of that, you can also enjoy an efficient current supply and flow. At the end of the day, a clean panel means a money-saving panel.
Author bio: Ellen Hollington is a freelance writer who offers to ghostwrite, copywriting and blogging services. She works closely with B2C and B2B businesses providing digital marketing content that gains social media attention and increases their search engine visibility.