Clean Solar Solutions have completed the cleaning of a 15MW solar farm in Bognor Regis for O&M provider, Cobalt Energy. The solar farm was funded by Next Energy and built in 2014 by Irish solar company BNRG Renewables. It is capable of producing enough electricity to power 5,000 homes.
Steve Williams M.D. of Clean Solar Solutions comments “We have an excellent working relationship with the team at Cobalt Energy. This clean of Bilsham solar farm is the biggest site we have cleaned for them so far, though our cleaning other larger sites for Cobalt are also being discussed. We have found Cobalt to be forward thinking in their approach to O&M, thinking more along the lines of preventative maintenance, rather than reactive.
We are on target to clean around 250MW of solar farms during 2016 and I feel this comes as a result of our providing a high quality of clean whilst working within the manufacturers warranty. Although some companies within the industry may be struggling in this difficult market, we consider ourselves very fortunate to have enjoyed tremendous growth this year and hopefully this will continue.”
Cobalt were forward thinking in their O&M providing and recognised that the solar farm would need regular cleaning as part of it’s predictive maintenance, due to it being located near the coast with the issues that sea air and seagulls bring. We were contracted to clean all 60,000 solar panels that are spread out across 86 acres of land.
Cleaning of solar panels on coastal areas has many benefits. Sea air can corrode the framework of the solar panels and the inevitable bird droppings create shading and hotspotting inside the solar panel. Hotspotting is particularly detrimental to solar panels as it can lead to a reduction of output, overheating of components and eventually cell failure.
If you are an O&M provider or asset owner and you have a solar farm that is in need of cleaning, we can provide you with complete site cleaning or spot cleaning. Please feel free to contact us for more information.