Solar Panels Through The Winter

Snow on the RoofIt is a real misconception that Solar only really works during the summer months, this is completely untrue. In fact Solar panels are often more efficient in colder weather and produce more energy.

The downside to the winter months is that it’s darker for longer and with less hours of sunshine, less energy can be produced, so it’s a balancing act between the two. But what if it snows?

Removing Snow from your Solar panels

The best thing to do is, drum roll ………..

Nothing, do not touch them.

You see the sun is very good at melting the snow and unless you have a flat roof, the weather and gravity will work together to resolve the issue for you pretty quickly. A couple of days of having your Solar panels covered with snow won’t cost more than a fiver and so really not worth the risk of falling off a roof or ladder.

“Don’t go up on a snow covered roof unless your name is Santa Claus or you have some other kind of magic. Not worth it,” Quote: Carl Siegrist, member of the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP)

You also don’t want to damage the panels either, unless we miraculously have weeks and weeks of relentless snow then we would advise you leave well alone and go build a snowman or something instead.

But if you are insistent on clearing the snow from your Solar panels then please brush it off gently, don’t scratch or scrape or you could damage them which would give you a much bigger problem. Don’t forget also to never use harsh chemicals on your Solar panels either.

If you have a specific issue with your Solar panels caused by snow and ice then please just get in touch with us first before taking action. You may well regret it and for the sake of a quick phone call it’s just not worth the risk.

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 15th, 2014 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Solar PV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.