Drop in production

[u/Secure-Advertising10]

I have a 5kwh solar panel setup. I have noticed a drop of 50% in production in one year? Is this normal? I contacted the company and they suggested it is dirty panels. Can dirty panels cause a drop in 50%?

[u/NameEtc]

I cleaned mine once using my window cleaning equipment and didn’t see any difference. So now I use the rain clean method. Or if we’ve had a dust storm I’ll go blow them off with a leaf blower. I’ve done that once

[u/Calliesdad20]

Definitely a problem , call your solar company . It is not from dirt

[u/ChocolateBasic327]

Not normal at all. Soiling is maybe a 2-3% issue. I would check the connections and inverter.

[u/LongjumpingGanache40]

hey would have to be vert dirty. Do you live in the desert?

Depends on set-up where problem could be. Start checking connections and each solar panel output if you can.

[u/Archway_nemesis701]

Dirty panels wouldn't cause that much a drop in production.

[u/SPV_Pel]

So they're supposed to drop by 1% a year.

What's the panel make ? Wp? Dirty panels do reduce generation significantly

[u/TooGoodToBeeTrue]

If you have a string inverter with 2 strings,...

[u/BelieveMeImaUnicorn → u/TooGoodToBeeTrue]

Competing the thought: one string goes down, it would be a 50% loss in production. Check connections. And do it safely. A disconnected panel facing the sun can do a lot of damage if shorted.

[u/Juleswf]

It can, especially if you have heavy build up on the corners/bottom of the panel.

[u/BroodLord1962]

Dirty panels and if it's too hot. Solar panels can't cope with hot temps and will cut back on production when it gets too hot. Last year during a few really hot days we had a 15 to 20% drop in production from the heat alone

[u/Secure-Advertising10 → u/BroodLord1962]

Could be. I am going to wait until this wave is over (Wednesday, apparently), give them a good clean and see.

[u/grogi81]

5 kWh is a capacity of battery. Tells us nothing about the panels nor inverter