Adopting solar energy solutions brings a maintenance questios: should I look for a solar panel cleaning service or do it myself? Did you know that are kits and robots to clean your solar panels? In this Hourglass article you can check all available options, costs and a solar panels cleaning services near you table for U. S.
How much does it cost to clean solar panels?
Different of what most people can think, the cost to clean solar panels is not that high. Of course, this investment can change on each U.S. state, but on average, cleaning a solar panel will cost about $140-180$.
This solar panel cleaning cost might seem a lot of money for some, but it’s necessary to consider the frequency you need to clean your solar energy system.
Commercial solar panel cleaning cost
The estimative above consider residential systems, which are tipically easier, smaller and cheaper to clean and maintain.
Commercial solar panel systems usually need to cover a higher power need for offices and, sometimes, the entire building.
In this case, as it depends on the building size, you can consider an average price of $12 per panel. So, if we have 40 panels needed to feed the building power needs, the cleaning costs can range from $400 to $1,200.
Table with commercial solar panels average costs
| Solar panel cleaning | Estimated cost |
| 20 panels | $240 to $600 |
| 40 panels | $480 to $1,200 |
| More than 40 panels | $500+ |
Do I need to clean my solar panels?
Yes, you defintely should clean your solar panels. You can imagine why: this plates are positioned on your roof, which means they receive a lot of solar light exposure.
However, these plates are also exposed to dust, pollution, leafs and other kind of stuff that can actually cost you real money. How so? It’s scientifc proved that dirty solar panels lose their effiency. Therefore, you do need to clean your solar panels.
According to most of solar energy companies, like the American SunPower systems, your home solar panels can loose between 2% to 50%. We know this wide range might seem less reliable, but the reason why the solar energy efficiency lost has this range is that it depends if you live in dustier areas or not.
Why do I need to get my solar panels cleaned?
On top of the efficiency problem, you have an even more serious reason to clean the solar energy system in your home.
The cumulative dust can actually damage your solar cells. Remember that anything upon the solar panels can shade the sunlight needed to produce power. The problem is that your solar cells don’t work alone, they are connected in a system.
Each solar cell produces a small percentage of power and, if one cell is not working, they can play as a resistance to the energy generated by the other cells, breaking the electric current.
Your solar panels are supposed to last about 25 years. If you don’t invest on your solar plates maintenance properly, it’s possible that you’ll need to replace them much earlier than that.
In this case, you’ll not invest only $140, but something around $13,000 to replace your entire solar energy system. Even if you get the higher price, $180, in 25 years you would spend $4,500 with your solar plates yearly cleaning. So, who’s actually saving money?
How often should solar panels be cleaned?
This is a very personal question, because it depends on the weather and pollution conditions of where you live. Although this answer may vary, the expert recommendations it’s to clean your solar panels every six months to a year.
Some signals that might help you to decide the solar energy system cleaning frequency are:
- How often does it rain where you live?
- What are the dirty levels where you live?
- How are the pollution levels in your region?
If your home region has a good rain frequency, nature is basically cleaning your solar panels for you. So, specially if you don’t live in a very dust and polluted area, the cleaning frequency should be closer to every year.
Considering that’s not the case, you live in a longer drought area or very polluted region, you have to get your solar panels cleaned more often, closer to the 6 months frequency estimation.
Avoinding your solar panel plates cleaning is not a clever way to save money. In order to keep solar power productivity and efficiency you need to invest in your system perfect conditions.
To offer you a better of why cleaning solar plates are a great cost-benefit, here is a table with some solar panel repairs average costs:
| Solar panel repair | Estimated cost |
| Panel cracks and damage | $200 to $400 |
| Loose wiring | $135 |
| Broken panel glass | $75 to $400 |
| Broken inverter | $1,000 to $2,500 |
| Panel corrosion | $200 to $500 |
Solar panel cleaning service near me – United States
In this table you can find the best rated solar panel cleaning services in the U.S. The list is in alphabetical order and has the contact info for each solar panel cleaning provider – most of them with the website, some of them with the phone number because, although they are top rated, they didn’t have a published website.
| U.S. State | Solar panel cleaning service company | Solar panel cleaning website / contact info |
| Alabama | Go Solar Power | https://www.gosolarpower.com/ |
| Alaska | ||
| Arizona | Complete Solar Cleaning | https://completesolarcleaning.com/ |
| Arkansas | Palmetto | https://palmetto.com/ |
| California | Premier Solar Cleaning | https://premiersolarcleaning.com/ |
| Colorado | Summit Window Washing | https://www.summitwindowwashing.com/ |
| Connecticut | L&R solar panel cleaning | https://lrsolarpanelcleaning.com/ |
| Delaware | Sparkling Image roof cleaning | https://sparklingimageroofcleaning.com/ |
| Florida | Solar Panel Cleaning Service Pros | https://solarpanelcleaningservicepros.com/ |
| Georgia | White Water Soft Wash | https://whitewatersoftwash.com/ |
| Hawaii | Aloha Solar Panel Cleaning | https://www.alohasolarpanelcleaning.com/ |
| Idaho | You Sun Solutions | https://www.yoursunsolutions.com/ |
| Illinois | Innovative Window Cleaning | https://www.innovativewindowcleaning.com/ |
| Indiana | Window Genie | https://www.windowgenie.com/ |
| Iowa | American Softwash | https://asoftwash.com/ |
| Kansas | Barret Solar | https://barrettsolar.com/ |
| Kentucky | Shining Windows | https://www.shiningwindows.com/ |
| Louisiana | Five Star Painting | https://www.fivestarpainting.com/shreveport-bossier-city/ |
| Maine | The Irish Guy Cleaning | https://www.theirishguycleaningco.com/ |
| Maryland | Between Cleaning | https://betweencleaning.com/ |
| Massachusetts | Gutter Armor | https://gutterarmorct.com/ |
| Michigan | Ever Clear Solar Panel Cleaning | http://www.everclearsolarpanelcleaning.com/ |
| Minnesota | Odin | https://www.odinsolar.com/ |
| Mississippi | Mid-south Softwash | https://www.midsouthsoftwashllc.com/ |
| Missouri | Solar Evolution | https://www.solarevolutionllc.com/ |
| Montana | Ninja Window Washing | https://ninjawindowwashing.wixsite.com/home |
| Nebraska | ||
| Nevada | Sol-up | https://solup.com/ |
| New Hampshire | NAK SOLAR O&M | https://www.naksolarllc.com/ |
| New Jersey | Industry Windows | https://www.industrywindows.net/ |
| New Mexico | Solar Professionals | Phone number (970) 778-2483 |
| New York | Pure Power | https://www.purepower.com/owners-engineering |
| North Carolina | Window Hero | https://windowhero.com/local/charlotte/ |
| North Dakota | Brite-way | https://www.kellersbriteway.com/ |
| Ohio | TLC Window solutions | https://www.tlcwindowsolutions.com/ |
| Oklahoma | Martinez Cleaning Services | Phone number (405) 693-2205 |
| Oregon | Unger and Sons | https://pocketsuite.io/link/chaseunger |
| Pennsylvania | WISE Power Washing | http://www.wisepowerwashing.com/ |
| Rhode Island | Blue Diomand Window cleaning | http://www.bdwcri.com/ |
| South Carolina | Greenville Super Cleaners | Phone Number (864) 451-3594 |
| South Dakota | Window Pros | https://kellymatteson.wixsite.com/window-pros |
| Tennessee | Easley Window Cleaning | Phone number (619) 457-5898 |
| Texas | Connected Solar | https://www.connectedsolar.com/ |
| Utah | Clean Choice | http://clearchoicewindowpros.com/ |
| Vermont | ||
| Virginia | Spotless solar cleaning | Phone number (530) 693-5694 |
| Washington | PV-Perfect | Phone number (443) 596-3595 |
| West Virginia | Ridgeline Window Cleaning | https://www.ridgelinewindowcleaningva.com/ |
| Wisconsin | Quality Services Wi | https://www.qualityserviceswi.com/ |
| Wyoming | Ever Clear | http://www.everclearsolarpanelcleaning.com/ |
Solar panel cleaning service: what to consider before hiring?
We all know that solar panels are a huge investment in clean energy that, even though pays off in the medium term, need to be taken as it is: a very expensive tool.
So, before letting anyone get into your solar panel system, here are some questions to be raised:
- Does this solar panel cleaning service has any reviews? How are they rated?
- Do they actually work with solar panels or they only have experiece in gutter services and window washing?
- Do they have any type of warranty?
- Does the price make sense with the other available options?
- How much time do they take to do the cleaning?
How to clean solar panels?
We strongly recommend that, if you don’t have any skills or experience to do so, you hire a professional team to take care of your solar panels.
On top of having a more efficient cleaning of your plates, you can also put yourself in danger climbing on the roof trying to do this cleaning on your own.
However, if you are willing to do it, you’ll need a solar panel cleaning kit and some instructions, that you can find in this article about solar panels cleaning.
