06 Nov One Family v. 32 Dirty PV Panels

This past Saturday, my husband, my son and I climbed up on the roof to remove five years of gray-black gunk from our 32 208-W Sharp solar PV panels. Our panels were installed in 2007 and 2008 before PV array monitoring systems were common, so we couldn’t tell if the electricity production had truly declined. Last Thursday morning, I grabbed a folding step ladder and ran my fingers across a couple of dew-covered panels. My fingertips became quite blackish, so it seemed like time to tackle a thorough cleaning.

Cleaning our PV panels was a fun and relatively easy process that took under two hours to complete. The most challenging part of the endeavor for me was getting off the roof back onto the ladder to come down. When my husband and I began gathering our cleaning equipment, our six-year-old son didn’t take note of what we were up to, because he was so engrossed in building with Lego. In the process of preparing our equipment, we discovered that the garden hose needed surgery to add a metal pipe connection piece. I began the cleaning process with two 40-oz. bottles of water to dump on the panels. While I began the scrubbing and wiping of panels, my other half took care of the hose issue. Then Daddy told our little man that Mommy was on the roof cleaning the solar panels and he eagerly joined in the family project.

Equipment Used – Extension ladder, two garden hoses, one spray nozzle hose attachment, a bag of terry cloth shop towels, a wood floor wiping tool with terry cloth covers, an extendable aluminum paint roller handle, two 40-oz. water bottles and a car washing brush (not pictured)

Results – The panels now look beautiful – much blacker and shinier. When we get our next Austin Energy bill, we will compare our electricity generation this November with November 2013 to see if the cleaning had any significant effect. 

In our attempt to improve the performance of our PV system, we also had quality family time and enjoyed a totally different view of our neighborhood from the roof. And I had Up on the Roof from 1962 by the Drifters stuck in my head the rest of the weekend, too.