If you have a residential solar energy system installed, your solar panels are generally flat, tilted, and on your rooftop. How often do you clean your roof? Probably not very often, most likely never. Why’s that? I hear you saying “Isn’t that what rain is for?” That’s kind of the same logic for solar panels too.
In most cases, you won’t need to clean your solar panels often, if at all. After all, anything that accumulates dirt on them (for example, dust or pollen), will get washed off the next time it rains. There are some times it might make sense to clean your solar panels though. If you’ve got a lot of bird droppings on your panels, rain might not wash these off very readily, so it’s a good idea to clean them off. Also, if you live in a state that’s prone to droughts – or, if it rains, it’s only a very light, misty rain, you might need to clean them every now and then.
Do dirt and debris have an impact on the effectiveness of your solar panels? And if so, how much? Well, yes and no. And, not much. Yes, dirt and debris can affect how much sunlight gets through to convert the light to energy. But, the amount the efficiency is lowered is minute – maybe 5% or less. And, with a typical 5kW solar system, this might equate to loss in your energy bill. Not monthly – overall. And generally, even if we are talking about areas with drought, eventually when it does rain, a couple months down the line, everything will be washed away and it might not even be worth it to deal with the hassle of cleaning it in the first place.
