Is cleaning solar panels worth the cost?

Many solar power owners ask, is cleaning panels worth the cost?  Until now – no.

Let’s face it, all panels get dirty. They’re outdoors.  All you have to do is drive around any neighborhood and look at rooftop panels to see the dirt buildup, especially around the bottom third of each panel.  Studies by UC San Diego and Atonometrics have proven annual production to diminish 6% – 11% depending on dust and air borne pollutants like smog and soot.  For residential customers, this may not be a big deal.  But for a business or utility?  A 6% – 11% drop in revenue is (and should be) a big deal!

While most residential owners would like higher production, getting a water hose extension long enough is too unwieldy and climbing up on a ladder or sloped roof trying to reach the high spots is too unsafe.  Commercial owners would also like higher production, but the production savings is usually negated by the cleaning costs or halted by environmental runoff regulations.  Besides, do you really want a lot of foot traffic on your roof, creating potential leaks?  For utility-scale owners who monitor production like a hawk, a truck spraying de-ionized water or a chemical solution does the trick.  But that cost erodes the savings too.

There just hasn’t been a workable solution – until now.

3fficient’s clean-tech incubator has launched a modern nano-technology that keeps panels super clean, thus increasing solar yields 6 – 11%.  It’s a “coat it and forget it” solution.  This nano-coating is applied to solar panels and keeps them clean and spot free for up to ten (10) years.  The nano-coating can be applied to panels at the factory or job site prior to install, or afterwards on the rooftop.  It can be re-applied in the future to add another decade of high productivity.   The clear liquid solution is literally painted onto the clean glass surface and dries in 2 minutes. The anti-static properties repel most dust and dirt.  The super hydrophylic properties repel water drops so any heavy debris like bird droppings are carried off with the morning dew or next rain.  3fficient offers a similar product for skylights, glass windows, windshields and doors.

To request a quote for PermaClean, click here.