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Should you wash your solar panels?

incoherency.co.uk

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Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#11

Post by msdz »

1123581321 wrote: post #3

Appreciate the attempts to quantify it. I haven't tried to quantify washing, but I do look at mine regularly. I doubt anything accumulates that rain doesn't handle well enough. Messing around with ground panels is lower risk and safer than roof panels where tool extenders and ladders start to become involved. If you have roof panels, you are the biggest danger to your panels (and yourself.) Don't try to clean them, s…

As another anecdata-point, when we did this for a now already fairly old roof installation of about 15kWp, it was more than “just about worthwhile”, since the panel area is contiguous: cost seemed to scale up less quickly than the wattage/theoretical maximum output, and the cleaning guy (solo company, IIRC) even told us it wasn’t necessary to do this every year (we hadn’t had it done even once the first decade+ of the installation’s lifetime).

So, at least in our case, definitely worth it.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#12

Post by rjmunro »

bebe8393jrir wrote: post #5

> If I increase the power output of the system then the additional capacity will not be eligible for the feed-in tariff and will revert to present-day prevailing tariff which is about 4x worse before you even consider that I currently get to use electricity and still get paid for generating it. > This is the yin and yang of market-distorting incentives. Today's incentive to install solar becomes tomorrow's disincenti…

> solar does not need artificial subsidies, and can pay for itself

That's true now, but wasn't true when those panels were installed. There were subsidies available to get the market kick-started.

They consist of an extra payment for every kwh you generate on top of the payment for delivering the power to the grid. The amount varied depending on when you signed up to the scheme, but at certain points it was as much as 50p/kwh (+ inflation, so more than that now).

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#13

Post by otherme123 »

bebe8393jrir wrote: post #5

> If I increase the power output of the system then the additional capacity will not be eligible for the feed-in tariff and will revert to present-day prevailing tariff which is about 4x worse before you even consider that I currently get to use electricity and still get paid for generating it. > This is the yin and yang of market-distorting incentives. Today's incentive to install solar becomes tomorrow's disincenti…

> I am not sure what author is trying to hint. But solar does not need artificial subsidies, and can pay for itself!

I think he is describing a subside that some governments gave years ago: you installed for example 5K, and get paid for whatever they generate at 300% market price, for a long time (25 years?). Today you find out that upgrading panels would made perfect financial sense, if you were selling at 100% and are going to sell electricity at 100% (you will be doubling the output for a tenth of the inversion 15 years ago), but as the subsides of 300% no longer exist, you will be actually losing money by upgrading.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#14

Post by quickthrowman »

walrus01 wrote: post #2

It's a bit worrying the author is asking chatgpt about the tingle rather than making sure there's a grounding lug on all the panels and they're all bonded to a grounding rod. The rudimentary nature of the setup makes me think there isn't something like a single conductor 12awg (or euro equivalent) copper wire that bonds to all panels and a basic $30 rod.

The system in question does not have a transformer so a grounding rod is not required as it is not a separately derived system.

The equipment grounds should be tied together to prevent any difference in potential though.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#16

Post by Tade0 »

rjmunro wrote: post #8
collabs wrote: post #4

Maybe the thing to do is to NOT upgrade existing working panels but rather set up a different/separate entity with completely different accounts and new panels? And about the washing, I wonder if it would be worth it to automate the process with a spray of water periodically? You can still wash the panels but I suspect it won't be necessary if there isn't too much dust accumulation? Isn't rain supposed to wash away t…

It may also be worth spraying them with water when they are too hot. As they get hotter the efficiency drops a little. It's only a few percent, and usually it happens at the time you need the efficiency the least because it's sunny, but if you can combine cleaning and cooling and get a few extra w out if it, why not.

Solar panels are increasingly being oriented east or west instead of south, as while it reduces overall yield, it maximises power when it's needed the most - during morning and evening peaks.

I don't have numbers, but I suspect it alleviates issues with dust buildup and temperature.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#17

Post by sluongng »

Tade0 wrote: post #16
rjmunro wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may also be worth spraying them with water when they are too hot. As they get hotter the efficiency drops a little. It's only a few percent, and usually it happens at the time you need the efficiency the least because it's sunny, but if you can combine cleaning and cooling and get a few extra w out if it, why not.

Solar panels are increasingly being oriented east or west instead of south, as while it reduces overall yield, it maximises power when it's needed the most - during morning and evening peaks. I don't have numbers, but I suspect it alleviates issues with dust buildup and temperature.

isn't that more of a storage issue, which a home battery would solve?

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#18

Post by hgomersall »

otherme123 wrote: post #13
bebe8393jrir wrote: post #5

> If I increase the power output of the system then the additional capacity will not be eligible for the feed-in tariff and will revert to present-day prevailing tariff which is about 4x worse before you even consider that I currently get to use electricity and still get paid for generating it. > This is the yin and yang of market-distorting incentives. Today's incentive to install solar becomes tomorrow's disincenti…

> I am not sure what author is trying to hint. But solar does not need artificial subsidies, and can pay for itself! I think he is describing a subside that some governments gave years ago: you installed for example 5K, and get paid for whatever they generate at 300% market price, for a long time (25 years?). Today you find out that upgrading panels would made perfect financial sense, if you were selling at 100% and…

That's not true. You can upgrade to the same capacity on the previous feed-in tariff and keep what you had. It makes sense to upgrade as you can then fill the extra space with additional panels (which will not be on the old tariff, but can be a separate system).

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#19

Post by infecto »

Nobody can answer this. It simple depends on each setup. Some panels will get incredibly dirty quick like those in the south west where there may be a lack of rain and lots of dust but in other regions you may never need to.

Re: Should you wash your solar panels?

#20

Post by engineer_22 »

wodenokoto wrote: post #6

> why would you clean them when you're about to sell the house? So they look good and the potential buyer sees something that looks to be in good condition and working well.

I agree. Doesn't matter what you sell, you will get a higher price if it is cleaned and tidy when presented to the market - because the kinds of people who pay higher prices are looking for clean and tidy things.
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