Solar Panel Cleaning Oregon

Solar panels are utilized by commercial properties, utility companies and solar farm companies to harvest, sell and utilize the power of the sun to power anything and everything that uses electrical energy. This is an environmentally friendly option for electricity creation that uses custom solar panel installations. Solar panels collect and convert sunlight into electrical energy that can be stored or used on demand. As the cost of owning and operating solar panels decreases more and more homeowners and private companies are investing in these earth friendly systems.

The electrical energy created can be directly impacted by the panels themselves being dirty or in bad repair. How dirty your panels get is dependent on the environment you live in. In The Portland, Oregon area with regular rainfall most homeowners can benefit from an annual cleaning of their panels to regain around 5%-8% efficiency. However, more arid, dusty parts of Oregon such as Central and Southern Oregon with higher amounts of dirt, birds and less rainfall can see a direct benefit to having their panels cleaned twice a year as the efficiencies drop in dustier drier conditions.

Getting on a regular schedule for solar panel cleaning and maintaining your solar panels benefits your specific energy optimization goals of your solar panels with consideration to your climate and installations area in Oregon. 

With most modern solar installation packages and monitoring applications you can see power production from your solar panels on a month by month or day by day basis. While rain can clean solar panels to a degree it leaves a dirty film that similar to a windshield that never gets washed will show a dirty film after drying and the film can grow dirtier with each additional rain. This is also true with windows which we wash quite a few of, the film and presumed cleanliness of rain can leave a performance leaching film that will chew into your energy production. With older deep framed panels we see the dirt accumulation and runoff gathering at the lower edge of the panel which can drastically affect the production of lower rows.

Residential Solar Panel Cleaning

We have heard from owners that use a garden hose yearly that they feel that is enough to get the residue off of the panels and have offered to clean the solar panels to see if there is a noticeable difference and have seen their numbers go up from a thorough non-chemical treatment. Again, washing your car with just a garden hose and not scrubbing or agitating the dirt off results in less than stellar results and in the case of solar panels has a direct correlation to how much money they save or make you every year. We're not out to sell snake oil to homeowners and a quick calculation of your production gains for your existing system with a cleaning can show the value of a solar panel clean. On average with yearly cleaning the reported gain is 5%-8%. If a 5%-8% gain in production has a value over the service cost then there is a value. We also bundle window cleaning, house washes, building maintenance and roof cleaning with residential solar cleaning and can often add it as very affordable add-on service or perform it as a stand alone service if the homeowner deems it to be of value.

The biggest safety issue for cleaning roof mounted systems is accessing them from the ground or ascending the roof to get to them. If you do choose to clean panels yourself always consult your manufacturer's guidelines for cleaning and be very aware of their recommendation (if any) for soaps/detergents used to clean your panels. If you're seeing a drop in energy output and it isn't being corrected by your cleaning method give us a call and we can help.

Commercial Solar Panel Cleaning

The value gain in solar production for commercial or utility solar farms is by far the most valuable utilization of our solar cleaning equipment and systems. We can get out to large, dry installations and quickly and efficiently clean thousands of panels with our own water supplies and equipment in a fraction of the time and water consumption of standard pressure washers. Our 12V pump systems can produce deionized and demineralized water onsite and are charged using solar panels (un-ironically) which means no gas engines running, no gas being consumed and no trucks left idling to run equipment. We use almost 80% less water to clean panels versus a gas powered pressure washer or rotating brush water driven system. Because we are fast and our method is very low cost we can clean thousands of panels for what some companies charge for hundreds of panels.

Warranty guidelines for most solar panels given by their manufacturers require a regular cleaning or maintenance schedule to monitor for faulty equipment as well as capturing the most energy possible. Improper cleaning will cost money over time and depending on the size of your solar panel array a regular professional should offer noticeable ROI for the cost of having your panels cleaned annually or bi-annually. We are a volume cleaner and whether it is residential solar panels or a large solar farm cleaning we have highly efficient, water conserving equipment we have invested tens of thousands of dollars in that keeps costs low and will save you money in the long run by boosting your solar panel's ability to collect more energy throughout the year.

There a few methods used currently to clean solar panels and while they have varying results and could be debated for their effectiveness and efficiency gains we use deionized, demineralized water that we filter through carbon and sediment filters. We apply that water using a telescoping water fed pole system to agitate dirt while rinsing continuously with the pencil jets attached to the brush itself. We can wash most rooftop systems from the ground but can also clean from the rooftop with fall protection. While we are on the roof we can take pictures of your panels top and bottom for your service records. If we see any damage or cracks, disconnected wiring or loose harnesses we will report these to you with accompanying pictures.