Solar Panel Snow Removal

Learn methods of solar panel snow removal to keep your homestead clear of snow by mimicking this blogger's morning routine. Easily get rid of snow on solar panels!

Reader Contribution by Cam Mather
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by AdobeStock/Sergey

Learn methods of solar panel snow removal to keep your homestead clear of snow by mimicking this blogger’s morning routine. Easily get rid of snow on solar panels!

I just did a questionnaire for a profile that will be published in Mother Earth News Magazine. One of the questions had to do with my “daily chores.” I filled out the questionnaire in the evening and managed to forget all about one of my most important morning chores around here during the winter – cleaning the snow off of my PV panels! Recently we had a big snow overnight so it was a priority first thing the next morning. While it’s true that a day of sun will usually melt most snow off of the panels, I am obsessive about energy, so as soon as the sun hits my panels I want them to be free of snow or anything else that might reduce their efficiency by even a single watt!

The first tracker that my neighbor Ken designed and built for me is easy to clean off. It’s nice and low to the ground and a regular wide broom works fine. As Ken refined his design he decided to make the second tracker much higher. Initially I told him that I didn’t like it so high, but after we’ve had a lot of snow and the piles get high enough to shade the first tracker, he reminds me why he built the second one higher. I can’t argue with logic.

  • Updated on Oct 9, 2022
  • Originally Published on Feb 16, 2011
Tagged with: Cam Mather, morning chores, off-grid, Reader Contributions, Snow Removal, solar
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