General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The total area of solar panels it would take to power the world, Europe, and Germany [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)And gas fracking may pollute groundwater too much for a state like California.
Nuclear energy also uses a lot of water I gather from the problems at Fukushima.
I have neighbors with solar panels. I had never heard that they use water to clean them.
The final word on solar panel cleaning
The old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies - in most residential installation scenarios, solar panel cleaning just isn't worth the bother - or the potential danger if accessing your rooftop. Unless dirt is clearly visible or performance is noticeably impacted; simply let nature do the job for you .
http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-energy/solar-power/cleaning-solar-panels.php
Another thing solar panel installers may offer to do is come around and clean your solar panels, again for a fee. I dont get this at all. Without special circumstances, there is no point in getting your solar panels cleaned. Thats what rain is for. Basically, they are self cleaning. Sure, there are exceptions, if youve been hit by a dust storm you may want to hose off the panels, and if, for some reason, your rooftop solar is underneath a tree that has recently been taken over by a colony of fruit bats well, youll probably want to move house because I can tell you now youre in for a crappy time. But for the most part, owners of rooftop solar report very little difference in performance after having their panels cleaned. Even if youre willing to do it yourself, its generally not worth the effort and almost certainly not worth the risk of mucking about on the roof. If you want increased output from your solar panels, rather than clean them, its much easier and more cost effective to simply install a slightly larger system from the beginning, so if you lose a little bit of output from dust and grime its not a problem.
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/12/how-to-maintain-and-clean-rooftop-solar-dont/
If you can clean your windows you can certainly clean your solar panels.
The hard part (especially for roof mounted solar panels is reaching them). Assuming you can reach your solar planels - clean the surface of a solar panel much like you would clean your car -- with warm water and dishwashing soap to remove any accumulation of dirt and grime.
http://www.solar-facts-and-advice.com/solar-panel-cleaning.html
If you have windows, you use water to wash them. If you have a car, you use water to wash it.
Solar panels probably don't have to be washed often if at all.
Do you have solar panels? If so, how often co you clean them?