Difficult Installations to clean
Certain types of installation are harder to clean than others. Some require expensive lift equipment (such as elevated carports), some require additional time and safety equipment (such as installations on steep hillsides or steep roofs) and some are simply too large. When you have a solar field consisting of thousands of solar panels, it is virtually impossible to keep them all clean at one time. As a cleaning crew progresses through the field, the original cleaned panels are already getting dirty again. This creates the Golden Gate Bridge Effect. Like the bridge painting crews, once you finish you return to the other end and restart the process. Thus you have a permanent crew(s).
If you are cleaning during the hours of darkness, there is a risk to personnel and the panels. It is easy to run into panels in the dark. Steep installations, installations requiring working off of ladders or lift booms, or high roofs with skylights all present challenges and danger to cleaning personnel.
High carports require the assistance of lift equipment to clean. Even then, it is difficult to stretch out long handle brushing equipment to reach panels in middle rows. This process is not only dangerous; it is slow and thus more expensive.
Manual cleaning involves running brushes over glass. It is easy to scratch the glass over time with continual cleaning as well as snagging brushes on the corners of panels and the mounting clamps.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of the method you choose, you will need to address the cleaning issue. The Heliotex Automatic Solar Panel Cleaning Systems provide you the opportunity for your panels to operate to their potential and increase your ROI.
For multi-megawatt systems, the opportunity cost of our automatic system versus manual cleaning over the lifetime of the project can be in the Millions of Dollars.
Contact Heliotex at 760-837-0390 and let us discuss your project and see if we can increase your ROI. Call us if you would like us to send you more information, answer additional questions or provide you with an ROI calculator.
You pay dollars per watt to generate electricity. Heliotex can help you recover lost power at cents per watt. Each of those watts of electricity has the same value to your company.