Clean the panels?

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HomerJay

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its been around 10 months since our panels were installed but a couple of days ago I noticed that one of the panels had a large dollop of bird poop on it so I cleaned it off from a balcony using a extendable mop.
When it was done, I was amazed that the area I’d cleaned was substantially cleaner than all the panels and I could see that the rest of them looked like they had a layer of grime / dust all over them.

This is obviously going to affect their productivity so my question is, how do I clean the panels? Only a couple are reachable from the balcony but the rest of them are roof height from the ground!
Do you guys clean these things or is it unnecessary?

A colleague mentioned something about red Sahara dust that has apparently settled all over cars, roofs etc in the UK this summer and I was wondering if this is what’s happened.
 
I bought a 4m pole from morrisons and window cleaning socks from amazon and i do mine regulary like every 2-3 weeks usually on a sundqy as one of my sunday jibs
What’s a window cleaning sock? Can’t find anything by that name on Amazon!
 
A colleague mentioned something about red Sahara dust that has apparently settled all over cars, roofs etc in the UK this summer and I was wondering if this is what’s happened.

No idea about Solar panels as we don't have any... But "Sahara-dust".....
Or dust from other unknown sources is a 100% reality....

Just a few weeks back after a dry spell some overnight rain left significant visible dusty marks over everyone's cars locally, such that you needed to turn on the windscreen wipers to clear the screen before driving in daylight!!

I am no expert but I am guessing that this dust that lands on cars will also land on solar panels on roofs, and probably reduce efficiency??
 
Worst time for dirt on panels is dry spells, and dust, other dirt will reduce efficiency. Rain in theory will clean the panels, which have a self cleaning coating. However sometimes rain just deposits more dirt, especially that Saharan stuff. So it's worth keeping an eye on your panels, and cleaning occasionally.
 
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