Solar Installation Maintenance in Florida
Why You Don’t Need to Clean Your Solar Panels
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), solar panels only need to be cleaned in “climates with infrequent rainfall.”
Solar Installation Maintenance in Florida
With no moving parts, modern solar photovoltaic (PV) panels rarely suffer from physical wear and tear. And because they’re covered with protective tempered glass, today’s PV panels can withstand impacts from hail and other falling debris.
This resilience explains why the solar manufacturers we partner with can safely warranty their PV panels for 25 years or longer.
The same is true of the other solar components that go into your installation. Racking, inverters, monitoring technology, and even most electrical panels all come with warranty protection that puts most energy generation technologies to shame.
As such, the maintenance requirements for solar are almost nonexistent. Once your panels are installed, they run silently in the background, generating free and clean energy with every new sunrise.
However, there are a few caveats:
- Although high-quality solar panels can withstand most impacts, a falling tree branch may be heavy enough to crack the tempered glass. But because solar is a modular technology, you only need to replace the broken panel – not the entire system.
- In some colder climates, excessive snowfall can prevent sunshine from reaching the solar panels underneath. So you’ll need to occasionally brush off the modules with a broom.
And there’s one more exception to this “zero-maintenance” rule.
Many homeowners prefer to clean their solar panels on a regular basis – either on their own or by hiring a professional cleaning service. But as you’ll soon see, even this maintenance step isn’t really necessary.
Why You Don’t Need to Clean Your Solar Panels
A recent study conducted in Arizona revealed that cleaning “dusty” solar panels only improved their energy output by around 1%. These findings echo those of another study from UC San Diego in which researchers discovered that regular solar panel cleaning offers very limited benefit to the user.
So, if you’re paying for a professional cleaning service, you’re likely wasting money.
And if you clean the panels yourself, you may even be wasting time.
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), solar panels only need to be cleaned in “climates with infrequent rainfall.”
So this type of routine maintenance may be worthwhile in an arid region like Arizona. But in a sub-tropical climate like Florida’s, we receive more than enough precipitation all year long to keep your solar PV panels in optimal running condition.
One More Reason Why Solar Is Mostly Maintenance-Free
From the moment your solar panels become operational, your system begins generating clean electricity from free sunshine. And if you commission your installation through Capital Solar and Roofing, you can even track your system’s performance in real-time through our PV monitoring solutions.
If your solar PV system’s output dips for an extended period of time, you’ll receive an alert. And only then does it make sense to investigate further.
This real-time monitoring means you don’t have to “schedule” cleaning, maintenance, or inspections. As long as there are no notifications, you can be confident that your solar installation is continuing to generate measurable utility bill savings month after month.
Most homeowners are surprised at how low the maintenance requirements are for their solar PV installations. Even cleaning your panels may be a waste of time and money.