Servicing and Panel Cleaning
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Spirit Solar will service your solar PV system, whether or not we installed it.
Very little maintenance is required for solar photovoltaic systems. The two areas to consider are
- Periodic inspection of the inverter and testing of the electrical components. Most inverter manufacturers recommend you do this every four years, although you may wish to check it more frequently than this.
- Periodic cleaning of the panels.
We offer the following packages:
Single phase under 7.5kWp / 40 panels
(Note that most residential systems are single phase)
- Inverter inspection and testing of electrical components only: £150
- Cleaning of the panels (up to two storey): £150 for up to 14 panels, for larger systems £10 per panel
Price assumes that the panels are located no more than 10m above the ground with easy access. We will check this with you before we quote.
Systems 7.5kWp or over
Please request a quote and we will tailor a package to suit your system.
Our price for electrical testing will depend on the number of arrays and inverters you have. Our price for panel cleaning will depend on the number of panels and the ease of access to those panels.
Why clean panels?
On a sloping roof panels will automatically be cleaned by the rain; in addition the glass on the panels is self-cleaning glass.
However, dirt will tend to accumulate in the bottom corners of the panels and as a precaution we recommend the panels should be cleaned every two to five years. This will ensure efficiency is maintained and output is not reduced. Dirt on the glass covering the solar cells will absorb sunlight and as a result less light will penetrate through to the solar cells.
Rain cleaning versus Professional cleaning
Google has a 1.6MW solar installation in California. It has carried out some research on the impact of dirt on panel performance, and on the impact of professional cleaning versus cleaning by rain. It has concluded that panel output is increased by 12% if they are professionally cleaned. Click here to view Google's research in full.