Many businesses have invested in commercial solar panels but not all of them are ensuring that they remain efficient in their generation.

If you aren't maintaining your solar panels then they don’t generate as much electricity as they could, costing the business.

There are a variety of things businesses can do to maintain the efficiency of their solar panels. Here are the top five ways that businesses can improve commercial solar panel efficiency and obtain the best possible output of electricity.

Make sure you invest in the best:

Buy solar panels that are efficient and contain high concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) cells.

Standard solar panels can produce up to 22% efficiency, however by investing in panels with CPV cells you can increase that efficiency up to 46%. Yes, there's an associated cost but if you have the capital upfront it is worth considering - you get what you pay for.

Get an expert installer on the job: 

If solar panels aren’t installed correctly, they won’t receive the optimal amount of sunlight and will generate less electricity.

Make sure that the orientation and the angle are properly considered as solar panels typically need to sit between a 18-36 degree angle for maximum sunlight as well as being south-facing (in the northern hemisphere). There are also other installation considerations such as the gap between the rooftop and the panel in order to reduce the likelihood of overheating, which would in turn reduce efficiency of the solar panel.

Avoid shade: 

Since solar panels generate electricity from sunlight, it makes sense that shade harms the electricity output. However, many people aren’t aware of the effect of shade on a series of solar panels.

If even one photovoltaic cell is shaded, it can impact the energy generated by its neighbour cells. This is because it acts as a resistor. So do your best to avoid shade and if you can ensure this happens during the planning process then even better.

Keep 'em Clean: 

A clean panel is an efficient panel.

Just a year's worth of dust and dirt accumulating on the panel can result in a 5% decline in output. Worse still, if there is a prolonged period of no rain this can drastically increase the inefficiency, so despite the sun being out regularly the efficiency of the panel will decrease.

Use monitoring software to measure panel performance: 

Being able to see the actual output at a granular level is the gold dust.

Without a tool to simply visualise the output from your solar panels and also compare it to weather data and historical output it becomes a guessing game. With a good measurement tool like ours at Surple, you can set targets, create alarms and even generate reports that make this whole management process really easy.

Solar power has huge potential but without proper care and management there is yet more waste.

For anyone considering solar panels just take this advice onboard and make sure you have a plan in place for how you maintain panel efficiency.