Solar Panel Cleaning in Manly

Manly's position is what makes it hard on solar glass. The ocean beach curves about two kilometres from South Steyne to Queenscliff, lined with Norfolk Island pines, while Manly Cove and the ferry wharf face the harbour on the other side. Very few rooftops in the suburb are far from salt water.

The weather adds a seasonal pattern. On hot spring and summer days, Sydney's sea breeze usually swings to the north-east by mid-afternoon at around 15 to 20 knots, which for Manly means an onshore wind coming straight off the ocean during the months panels should be producing the most. Salt carried on that wind dries on the glass as a fine film.

Rain helps less than many owners assume. Long-term records from Manly Town Hall put April as the wettest month and September as the driest, so a late-winter and early-spring dry spell lets salt, dust and pollen accumulate just as the days start to lengthen.

Then there is the housing. Apartments make up the bulk of Manly's homes, and Northern Beaches Council describes four ways to set up solar on a strata building: a system for each unit, one system shared by all units, sharing through an embedded network, or a system that powers common areas only. Whichever model a building uses, the panels end up on a roof residents rarely see, which is why soiling tends to go unnoticed.

On a Manly apartment building, a dirty array is a shared cost that never arrives as a bill, and that is the main reason it gets overlooked.

In NSW, solar on a strata building can be approved as a sustainability infrastructure resolution, which passes with the support of at least half of the owners voting. Once a building has been through that process and paid for a system, the owners corporation has a direct interest in it performing. Salt film and bird droppings work against that quietly, because they build up out of sight.

Renters are part of the picture as well. With 51.4% of Manly homes rented at the 2021 Census, many residents of a strata building are tenants rather than owners, and Northern Beaches Council encourages renters to raise solar with their landlord and the other owners. For the committee, a scheduled clean is a simple line to add to the maintenance plan.

The cleaning method matters near the coast. We use purified water with no detergent, which dries spot-free and protects the glass and its coatings, and it removes salt film, dust, pollen, soot and bird droppings.

Apartment roofs need proper access planning, and our team members are certified to work safely at heights. We carry $10 million public liability insurance, and every job comes with before-and-after photos, which gives a strata committee a clear record of the work.