It is often seen that when people try to switch over to green technology for their electricity needs most of them opt for the solar panels on their rooftops both at home and business destination. It is a great step but, to make it a success you need to have a good knowledge about the maintenance of those highly expensive solar panels which you expect to be highly efficient.
What causes a lack of efficiency of the solar panels?
The solar PV panels consist of a number of small PV cells which work only when they get appreciable amount of sunshine. Thus, anything which blocks the transmission of light on these panels is capable of lowering the performance of the panels and thus blocking your money as well. In such times you need to decide and on the basis of the environmental conditions of your area what is the amount of cleanliness you need to maintain of the solar panels.
What can be the causes of the dampened performance of solar panels?
If you live by the sea, it is common that the wind tends to have a higher salt content which can create obstructions. Though there are places around the sea which get high amounts of rain as well and so it is expected to keep the solar panels relatively clean but, experiments have shown that even in the rain prone places if the panels are cleaned on a regular basis it certainly makes the performance of the solar panels better. There are other areas too like, houses which are next to busy roads or railway lines, where the amount of grime on the solar panels tend be on the higher side. Even if you are a nature lover and have a number of big trees around your house, you need to check the solar panels regularly because falling of leaves may also create a hindrance for the sunlight to charge the PV cells in the solar panels. Bird droppings are also considered to be another reason for slackening the performance of the solar panels. As per the reports of the National Renewable Energy laboratory nearly 25-30% of energy is lost when the solar panels are not cleaned properly.
How to understand when the solar panels need to be cleaned?
Here are two best ways for you to check when it’s time for cleaning the solar panels.
- Keep checking physically: If you are constantly checking the solar panels personally and removing the dirt, it is a good way of maintaining a good performance of the device.
- With Monitoring Service: If you lack time and do not mind spending money then there are monitoring services which can either be used with a monthly fee or a lump sum cost that will help you in keeping a tap of the performance of the PV system. The logic on which the monitoring system is going to work will be that your solar panel is supposed to produce a certain amount of electricity every month. If that is not produced or a lesser amount is produced, the monitoring system notifies you. Though the monitoring systems do not help in troubleshooting of the solar panels but they certainly help in checking the performance.
How to clean the solar panels?
- Cleaning solar panels yourself: Like you clean your windows, you can also clean the solar panels. However, as per Ionic Solar Cleaning Systems, a proper cleaning cannot be done with the help of tap water as there are chances for it to leave salts and minerals on the solar panels which once again hamper the performance. Thus, while you can start the cleaning with tap water, you have to finish it with ultra purified water.
- Using SmartShield: This does not involve any washing because the smartsheild coating is non-stick in nature and does not allow the dirt to build up. Do not worry as this coating has no harmful effects on the environment and while it saves time in application it also comes with a ten year warranty. If you want you can also clean your solar panels on top of the smartshield.
- Using nano-cleaning product: This one again leaves you from cleaning the solar panels and is popular in areas which receive a good amount of rainfall. With the nano-cleaning products rains clean your solar panels. In places where rain is less, you can just use garden hose or air hose to clean the solar panels.
- Cleaning Robots: It may sound amusing but there are robots which clean the solar panels properly. There are big brands like Mitsubishi, Sharp, Sanyo and others which provide you with this option.
Though solar panels are good to use but, if you totally want to get over with the aspect of cleaning solar panels you can opt for thin film solar cell technology. This process is called building integrated PV and they often good for the roof and provide electricity too.