Pollen On Solar Panels

Often homeowners see a reduction in energy of about 25 percent.

Pollen on solar panels.

Dirt pollen and debris reduce the solar panels ability to perform at full capacity. Even a mild rain rinses off most of the obstructing dirt pollen etc which led them to conclude that hiring someone to clean the panels does not pay off. That is an extreme scenario due to its very dry winters and high air pollution. Before you begin make sure you set up your ladder on solid ground and that it remains stable while you re on your roof.

How much electricity you lose depends on how dirty your solar panels are. Even in the dusty outback of south australia rooftop solar panels installed at a reasonable angle stay relatively clean during the dry season. Dirty solar panels do mean power loss. Research shows airborne debris reduces solar energy collections.

After all anything that accumulates dirt on them for example dust or pollen will get washed off the next time it rains. Being generous we ll go with 10 of the year or 36 days. If the panels are dirty they absorb less sunlight and generate less electricity. Of course your solar panels will feel the pain too.

University of san diego researchers looked into this question and concluded that with some exceptions since less than 0 05 percent of energy could be lost per day due to dirt it was not worth the effort or the expense to clean solar panels. We know that dust dirt pollen bird droppings and other debris can negatively affect solar panel efficiency. Where pollution dust and pollen may result in issues in some areas are scenarios where the panels are only tilted a few degrees or are installed at ground level. Google conducted a groundbreaking experiment at their 1 6 mw solar farm in mountain view california.

Solar panel pollen metrics in kathmandu a possible outlier. According to experts environmental pollution could reduce the amount of light that gets absorbed by your solar panels even if the system is relatively new. Rain can wash away pollen but if it hasn t rained for a while you ll have to clean your solar panels on your own. Some reports bring the number as high as 30 percent for homeowners who never clean their systems.

In most cases you won t need to clean your solar panels often if at all. Kathmandu was ranked the third most polluted city in the world in pollution index 2016. They found that cleaning the solar was the number one way to maximize the energy they produce. If all those days happen to be sunny the total production loss over the year is 7 56 kwh 36 pollen days x 0 21 kwh per day out of the 6 000 or so kwh the system will produce.

That hated time of year for most allergy sufferers like myself. At this time of year you will see a marked reduction in the output of your solar panels as well. Fortunately it s quite easy. Pollen levels in nc get so high that the whole world is covered in a layer of yellow dust for a while.

That s kind of the same logic for solar panels too. Pollen accumulates on your solar panels hampering their performance.