Mould on solar panels

[AHoy]

Hi everyone,

I have a solar hot water system and notcied today that there's a lot of mould on the solar panels. It's been a cold and wet winter in Melbourne so I guess it's built up over the past few months. I'm not too keen to get up on the slippery terracotta tiled roof to clean it, so was wondering if anyone knows whether the mould will be burnt off as the weather gets warmer or whether I will need to clean it otherwise it will affect the effeciency of the panel. Any advice appreciated.

Tony

[AHoy]

Update on this: I had a quote for a new system and the hot water specialist said there was no need to clean the panel as the capacity of the panel far exceeded the storage capacity of the tank. ie it was overkill and being a little bit less efficient wouldn't matter.

[AHoy]

Was surprised to read this morning of solar panels bursting due to the cold weather in Melbourne over the weekend - http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbournes-frosty-winter-blast-sees-solar-hot-water-panels-burst-a...

Anyone had the misfortune of experiencing this?

[Gerald]

Hello All , The mold is a very common black mold and very damaging to Solar panles as it causes hot spots and of course decreases efficiency , we see it often in winery installations and have battled it for 35 years , Its interesting reading all the posts as this subject came up recently in our buisness , we are working on and modfying our coating used to change a surface mold grows on and will keep you informed , from trials on surfaces externally it will keep buildings and tank free of mold for periods of 6 + years and it has a built in feature to help address water staining which is another probelm for panels 

[Gerald]

Hi , black mold will take hold after 3 to 8 days , it has the ability to do that , Id suggest if you have black mold remove it as it wont burn off , a panel must be clean to be efficient !

[Gerald]

The mold matter now a problem being seen on solar panels was no surprise at all , industries such as wine have battled it relentlessly for 40 to 50 years , what is important is to understand that mold can cause damage to a panel so look at removing it , water being used can only cuase a probelm if panels are old and seals are bad ( they sit on a roof so its normal to be exposed to water ) Possibly Google black mold as there are new technolgies about that are addressing mold very differently . or accept mold is a normal part of any enviroment has been since the start of time and we all give it a great place to grow now .

[AHoy]

Finally got up on the roof this weekend and cleaned the panels as it was clear it was only going to get worse, not better. Pretty happy with the results. Might get up again next weekend and give the panels a once-over with a microfibre cloth just to make sure there's no smearing left. 

[Jason]

What did you use to clean them @AHoy? It might help @Mick2 who had a similar problem here - https://www.workshop.com.au/t5/Outdoor/Best-way-to-clean-solar-panels/td-p/21400

Thanks,

Jason

[PappaGabba]

The 'mould' shown on the photos looks the same as that on the roof tiles - it is Lichen. Used to live in Canberra where lichen on tiled roofs was common - people would install line of copper wire on top of roof and water running down roof would carry minute amounts of the copper down the roof and slowly kill and remove the lichen. Seems to me that installing copper wire on top of the panels would provide the same result. Probably wouldn't suggest it for those houses that use tank water even though the amount of copper would be minimal. Could also consider washing with a weak mixture of copper sulphate and water.