Over time, dust and leaves can build up on your roof and heavy rains cannot remove them. Regular cleaning allows for maximum PV system output. Your PV system is exposed to the outdoors. Leaves and needles falling from trees, bird droppings, small dead mosquitoes, fine dust, pollen and airborne dirt and grit can fall on the modules and stain them. This reduces the output of the PV system.
Shading is one of the killers of PV system power production. Measurements show that a dirty PV system can reduce the electrical output by up to 20%. Proper cleaning of PV panel systems is therefore essential to ensure optimal absorption of solar radiation and its subsequent conversion into electricity.
How often should photovoltaic panels be cleaned?
Even though weather phenomena such as rain and snow can rinse and clean PV panels, this is not enough to completely clean them. In particular, there are birds such as pigeons that stay near your panels and leave bird droppings to stain the surface. Therefore, it is highly recommended to clean your PV panels regularly, both to maintain the efficiency of the panels and to ensure that the materials used to make them remain in good condition. To ensure that the energy output of your PV system remains constant, you need to schedule a PV module cleaning at least once every two years, and you can even plan for an annual cleaning if there are too many birds in the vicinity.
How do you clean PV panels?
The first step is to make sure that the PV system is not operating improperly and that the level of electricity produced is not decreasing, which can be checked through the PV system's control panel. You can choose to have it cleaned by professionals, who will have professional detergents and cleaning methods to provide you with customized solutions at an average price of 80€/kW.
Of course you can also clean it yourself (which is more dangerous), with a lifeline, a soft brush and a specific detergent; you can also choose a PV panel cleaning robot, radio-controlled, for fast and efficient cleaning up to 1300 m2/hour.
When the roof has snow in winter, Maysun Solar's all-black modules (all-black module link) can avoid this problem if you install them on a pitched roof. If your panels are installed on the ground or on the property, when the snow falls on the ground and the panels are not covered by anything, the snow on the ground acts as a mirror to emit the sunlight back to the panels, thus increasing the power generation of the panels, because the reflection of the snow will slightly boost the PV power generation when the double-glass modules are installed.
On a flat roof, you can use a soft brush or mop, etc., to push the snow down, taking care not to scratch the glass. The module is a certain bearing capacity, but you should not step on the module, it is also recommended not to board the snow too thick before cleaning, these situations can cause hidden cracks or damage to the module. It is important to note: you should not use hot water to rinse the panels.
When is the best time to clean PV systems?
The best time to schedule cleaning of PV modules is early spring, i.e. March/April. This way, the system will be very clean during the months with the best sunlight exposure for energy production.
At Maysun Solar, we offer a 15-year product warranty and up to 25-year performance guarantee to emphasize that our products are not cheap products, but represent long-term solutions you can rely on.
Because weather conditions, buildings and technology are not universal, they vary from place to place. That's why we rely on regional experts who can be on hand to provide you with expert assistance in making the appropriate system solution for the specific conditions of your home's roof.
We have offices, warehouses in several country regions, such as Italy and Germany, and we will send the PV panels from your nearest logistic center, contact us now and get a quote.