Although regular cleaning of solar panels is important for them to function optimally, is it worth spending extra money for? Well, we’ll find out shortly.
Is it worth cleaning solar panels? This is a common question that solar owners ask regularly after considering the costs of hiring a service contract. But the reality is that this question doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer. This means that in some scenarios, you may not necessarily need to clean your solar panels, while on rare occasions, you may need to clean them to enhance their performance.
So if you are a homeowner contemplating cleaning your solar panels after cost considerations, no worries; we’re here to guide you and help you decide if the cleaning is worth the cost or not.
Reasons why you May Need to Clean your Solar Panels
Apart from enhancing the efficiency of the solar panels, cleaning them will also prolong their lifespan. On the other hand, sometimes dust, dirt, and other debris may accumulate on the surfaces of the panels, preventing the silicon cells in the panels from receiving direct sunlight, which will definitely reduce their energy generation capacity. Hence, it becomes important to clean the solar panels to optimize energy generation.
When should you clean your solar panels?
The appropriate time that you need to clean your solar panels can be influenced by your environment, but the idle time is usually seasonal cleaning, which may be twice a year, after inspection to ascertain their performance, and lastly, after major events like dust storms, wildfires, etc., you may also need to clean your solar panels.
However, if your region receive enough rainfall annually, you may not need to do extra cleaning on your solar panels since the rainfall will wash off all the accumulated dirt on the panels.
Is it worth cleaning solar panels?
As we noted in the introduction, the answer to this question can be ‘’YES or NO’’ depending on on your region.
If you reside in a region that normally receives enough rainfall annually, then there is no need to clean your solar panels since the rainfall will wash them. However, if you reside in a city that normally has lots of dust, grime, blowing sound, and smog, then there may be a need for you to clean your solar panels to optimize their performance.