Watched my neighbor's solar panel output drop 30% in 3 years

I live in Phoenix, AZ and my neighbor Tim put in a 6kW solar setup back in 2020. He was all excited about the savings, showing me his monthly production numbers. Fast forward to this summer and he mentioned his bills went up again. I asked if he had checked his panel output lately. He pulled up the app and compared it to the same month in 2021. Turns out dust, bird droppings, and general grime had cut his production by almost a third. A simple hose-down and a professional cleaning later, he got about 20% of that back. Has anyone else here seen their solar efficiency drop over time from just not cleaning the panels?

2 comments

2 Comments

troyp3725d ago

Did he ever check if his inverter was working right? I've heard some of the newer ones can fail or get finicky after a few years, especially in extreme heat like Phoenix. Might be worth comparing his daily peak output to what it was when new. Also, did he try a simple DIY clean first before paying for the pro service? Sometimes a garden hose and a soft brush can do the trick if you don't have hard water stains.

faith_thomas24d agoTop Commenter

Yeah totally, I had the same issue with my panels. Checked everything and it turned out my inverter was toast after a couple Phoenix summers.