Dee Why has excellent solar exposure and two things working against it: a constant salt film off the ocean, and a large resident bird population from the lagoon. Droppings are the more expensive of the two, because of how a panel is wired.
The onshore position that gives Dee Why its sun also delivers a steady salt aerosol onto the glass. Salt draws moisture from the air, so it stays slightly damp and binds windblown sand and dust into a film rather than letting it blow off. Rain clears the loose material and leaves the bonded layer, and because it builds evenly across the whole array there is no visible dirty patch to prompt a clean. Output just drifts downward.
Bird droppings are the sharper problem here. Dee Why Lagoon supports a substantial gull, ibis and cormorant population, and rooftop arrays sit directly under their flight paths. A dropping is opaque rather than translucent, so it does not dim a cell, it blocks it. Because cells run in series within a panel, one fully shaded cell throttles the current for the entire string it belongs to, which is why a few small droppings can cost far more output than their surface area suggests.
Many arrays here sit on low-pitch strata roofs, where there is less natural runoff to help and access is over common property.
We clean with purified water and a soft brush, no detergent and nothing abrasive, working from ladders and height-safety gear rather than walking the panels.
A solar system is an investment with a stated payback period, and everything that reduces output extends that period. In Dee Why two things are quietly doing exactly that.
The salt film is the constant one, and because it builds evenly there is no visual trigger to act on. The bird droppings are the sharper one, and their cost is disproportionate to their size. Because cells run in series, a single opaque dropping can throttle an entire string, so a handful of small marks can cost far more generation than their surface area suggests. That is the specific reason a lagoon-adjacent array is worth checking more often than most.
For strata buildings with a shared system, the same logic applies at a larger scale, and lost generation is a cost carried by every lot owner.
Left long enough, droppings bake onto the glass and become acidic enough to mark the surface permanently, which is a hardware cost rather than a performance one.
We clean with purified water and no detergent, from ladders and height-safety gear rather than by walking the array.
Dee Why Lagoon supports a large gull, ibis and cormorant population, and rooftop arrays sit beneath their flight paths. A dropping is opaque, so it blocks a cell instead of dimming it. With cells wired in series, one blocked cell limits the current for its entire string, so small marks carry a large cost.
Yes, that's a fair rule. Between the steady salt aerosol off the ocean and droppings from the lagoon birds, these panels collect more than most. The salt film gives no visible warning, and droppings left long enough bake on and can mark the glass permanently, turning a cleaning job into a hardware cost.
Yes. Many arrays here sit on low-pitch strata roofs with access over common property, and we work from ladders and height-safety gear rather than walking on the panels. With a shared system, lost generation is a cost carried by every lot owner. The team is fully insured and certified to work at heights.
The bonded salt film, the windblown sand and dust it has trapped, and bird droppings from the lagoon population. We use purified water and a soft brush with no detergent and nothing abrasive, so the glass and its coatings are protected and the panels dry spot-free. Before-and-after photos are included with the clean.
How we clean arrays with purified water and no detergent, and why output recovers once the glass is clear.
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MONDAY: 7:30 AM — 6:00 PM
TUESDAY: 7:30 AM — 6:00 PM
WEDNESDAY: 7:30 AM — 6:00 PM
THURSDAY: 7:30 AM — 6:00 PM
FRIDAY: 7:30 AM — 6:00 PM
SATURDAY: CLOSED
SUNDAY: CLOSED
