Solar Panel Cleaning in Mona Vale

Mona Vale Road (A3) and Pittwater Road (A8) join in the suburb, and a government announcement on clearways put the Barrenjoey and Pittwater roads corridor at more than 60,000 vehicles a day. That figure covers the whole run down to The Spit, not one spot in Mona Vale, but it gives a sense of the scale. B-Line buses also run through here, and a bus depot sits on Darley Street.

Heavy vehicles are part of the picture. Mona Vale Road's eastern section was widened over 3.2 kilometres down to Foley Street, with a heavy vehicle arrester bed included in the work. Roofs near busy routes like these can gather a thin film that light rain tends to move around instead of removing.

Closer to the ocean, the deposit changes. Surf at Mona Vale Beach is at its best in north-easterly winds, and those same breezes carry salt inland. As it dries on the glass, it can leave a pale haze that is easy to mistake for ordinary dust.

Trees and birds round out the mix. The golf course has Norfolk pines and gums, Village Park has its own plantings, and the dunes host species such as willie wagtails and whipbirds. Pollen and droppings can follow on panels near any of them, and a single dropping can shade cells until it is removed.

Grime on the glass cuts the light reaching the cells, and because it builds gradually, the drop in output is easy to miss. Rinsing it off helps the system work closer to what it was designed for, which is the whole point of having it on the roof.

No detergent is used at any stage. Purified water dries without spots and protects the glass and its coatings, and with no soap left behind there is no sticky residue for the next lot of dust to cling to. It also keeps cleaning chemicals out of whatever drains off the roof into your gutters and garden.

Worth noting for anyone tracking their figures: comparing your inverter readings before and after a clean can show what the panels were missing. Results will vary with the season and the state of the array, so treat it as a useful check and not a promise of a fixed gain. Before-and-after photos supplied with the job show the physical difference.

A separate house makes this one owner's decision, while on a flat or townhouse roof it usually goes through a committee. Being fully insured, with team members certified to work safely at heights, makes the paperwork simple in either case.