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Cleaning solar PV panels? to increase output

Solar Photovoltaic (PV)

Last Post by Tim441 2 years ago

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Tim441

(@tim441)

Prominent Member Contributor

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 290

Topic starter 27/05/2023 8:50 am

At my home I have 2 sets of panels:

2.28kw on a 45deg pitched roof facing south

6.4kw on a 6deg almost flat roof facing east

During this period of fine weather I thought I would try and do some direct comparisons before/after cleaning. They are all pretty accessible as 1 storey building and the pitched panels can be cleaned from flat roof.

Generally I clean around 4 times a year as the flat panels will clearly not self clean. They were surprisingly dirty this am - a lot of it dust/pollen.

Info from Givenergy app... solar prod for flat roof only bearing in mind its not optimal pitch and not optimal orientation.

DATE:OUTPUT:PEAK PRODUCTION

15/5 26.18kwh 6069w

16/5 28.49kwh 5707w

17/5 27.22kwh 6218w

18/5 28.82kwh 5562w

19/5 25.43kwh 5110w

20/5 32.64kwh 5388w

21/5 31.81kwh 5421w

22/5 24.43kwh 5111w

23/5 25.38kwh 5245w

24/5 31.54kwh 4982w

25/5 30.47kwh 5363w

26/5 34.6kwh 5059w

27/5 cleaned early morning

I will post results in coming days but might like to think I will see a jump? as much as 10%?
Fairly difficult to make precise comparisons unless we have completely cloudless days.

Full year 2022: 5114kwh
May 2022: 683kwh (ave 22)
Peak month Jun 2022: 774kwh (ave 25.8)

Do other people clean their panels? I guess if on a typical house its not easy and if professionals used its liable to be costly vs the improved output?

This topic was modified 2 years ago by Tim441

Listed Grade 2 building with large modern extension.
LG Therma V 16kw ASHP
Underfloor heating + Rads
8kw pv solar
3 x 8.2kw GivEnergy batteries
1 x GivEnergy Gen1 hybrid 5.0kw inverter
Manual changeover EPS
MG4 EV

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Tim441

(@tim441)

Prominent Member Contributor

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 290

Topic starter 27/05/2023 9:20 am

i see in May 2022 the peak day was 34.39kwh. Only 3 days above 30kwh, 18 days above 20kwh, 12 days under 20kwh & 1 day unrecorded

According to Givenergy the panels produced up to 6.9kwh (briefly) peak production last year - but I think sub 6kwh was much more normal as peaks

This post was modified 2 years ago by Tim441

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Tim441

(@tim441)

Prominent Member Contributor

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 290

Topic starter 28/05/2023 8:19 am

well... Day 1 after cleaning did not show any noticeable improvement! But of course hard to make exact comparisons without being certain of brightness of sun/haze etc. Broadly it was wall to wall sunshine all day.

27/5 34.4kwh 5012w peak production.

I remain certain that its necessary to clean my low angled panels anyway and would be interested in other people experiences and how often you clean them (if at all!).