Why do you Need to Clean Solar Panels
Solar panel cleaning is very important to bring out the maximum efficiency from the solar panels. It comes under the O&M (Operations and Maintenance) of a solar plant. Operations and Maintenance of a solar plant also includes many other factors, but cleaning of solar panels is one of the most important aspect of the same. Both ON grid and OFF grid solar power plant requires cleaning as it is the basic need of the solar panel to work efficiently. All type of solar panels i.e. Polycrystalline, Monocrystalline, Mono perc Half cut and Bi facial require regular cleaning. A solar system size of 1 KWp generates 1500 units per year approximately. Clean solar panels tend to generate more power than the dirty solar panels under the same conditions, location, specification and size of plant. The cells in the solar panels absorb the sun light (solar radiation) falling on them and converts it to electricity through semiconductors.
solar panel cleaning is very important for the following reasons:
- To generate maximum electricity from the plant
- Brining out the utmost benefit from the solar panels
- To keep the solar panels working effectively
- Generating power for 25 years
- Improve the ROI time
- Increasing Performance
- Maintain the looks of solar panels
Once, the importance of solar panel cleaning has been discussed we need to know how to clean solar panels. There are multiple options available these days for solar panel cleaning in both manual and automatic cleaning options. There are various brushes, equipment’s and robotic machines that are being used in the solar panel cleaning. When the panels are cleaned, they tend to work effectively and efficiently.
The solar panel cleaning intervals depend upon many aspects:
- Location of site: This is one of the most important factors which affects the cleaning interval. Places like Rajasthan which have a lot of dust winds or dust storms need regular intense cleaning of solar panels every week. Places which have less such issues can be cleaned every 15 or 20 days.
- Rooftop or Ground Mounted site: Ground mounted sites tend to have more dust particles collection than the rooftop plants. Rooftop solar plants have more of bird poop on the solar panels which starts creating spotting on the solar panels which drops the efficiency of the solar panels.
- Available resources: This is the main aspect which decides the cleaning intervals, by resources we mean availability and accessibility of water and labor for cleaning. If in such places where it is difficult to find or deploy manpower, we have robotic and automatic cleaning machines which does the job.
The cleaning intervals varies on multiple factors, the main knowledge is how to clean solar panels.
Solar panel cleaning can be done by professionals, equipment’s supplied by manufacturer approved vendors, automatic cleaning pipes, solar approved brushes, automatic robot machines and even just with normal water spraying pipes. What we need to look over here is that we don’t overdo the cleaning and don’t use any unapproved third-party detergents or soap on the solar panel cells. We just need availability of plain water and electricity to run the machines or brushes. Every 15 days interval cleaning is more than sufficient which makes it 24 times a year, in some places we can also do it with 12 times cleaning a year.
We have noticed people investing such a huge amount of money in setting up their solar power plants. The only maintenance it requires is regular solar panel cleaning to increase performance and generation. Once, the performance and generation are increased you will automatically start making more electricity. This will lead to increased savings in electricity bills and better return on investment. Dust and dust spots on the solar panels get accumulated very easily on the solar panels which can create performance issues and will later on affect the quality of the solar cells. There are lot of products and services being offered in the market for solar panel cleaning as it is very necessary for the solar plant to be cleaned regularly for upmost working Most solar panel manufacturers include solar cleaning as a condition in their warranty, so it is better if the users are well prepared to get their solar panels cleaned by professionals or on their own.
