Yes! Let's see why...
Solar panels are a great addition to any home or business looking to lower their carbon footprint and reduce their energy bills. However, they can provide the perfect space for unwanted birds to nest under.
These unwanted visitors can cause damage to both the exterior and interior components of your solar panels, ultimately causing your system to loose its ability to generate power.
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Confirm your solar panel installation with Optimum Electrics before the end of the month and receive FREE robust bird proofing system as part of your installation. This bird proofing system is usually worth £50 per panel!
How can birds damage solar panels?
You won't be the first or last person to think that birds can't do that much damage to solar panels. However, you'd be surprised by the extent of damage that is possible from the unwanted visitors. Let's take a look at the different ways that birds can damage your solar panels.
Guano
You'll probably know 'guano' as bird poo, this can cause an unsightly mess of your solar panels, roof, gutters, windows and grounds below (including any garden furniture you may have close by). When left on the solar panels themselves, guano blocks the sun's rays and render your panels ineffective, hugely effecting your solar investment.
If all of that wasn't bad enough, bird droppings spready diseases and infections. Plus, it is highly acidic, if left in the same place to build up it can cause structural damage to your solar panels and roof.
Mess
Once birds have discovered your solar panels and decided to make this perfect environment their new home, they begin to build their nests. This involves a huge amount of sticks, twigs, leaves and other materials that will end up covering your roof. During windy and rainy conditions these materials can get blown into gutters, causing blockages that require expensive repair jobs. Additionally, it is a sad reality that baby birds or eggs can easily fall from the nest, resulting in a very unpleasant clean up job for you.
Noise
The most common way that homeowners realise that pigeons have made their home in their solar panels is the unmistakable noise they create. Unfortunately pigeons are loudest between dusk and dawn, creating the perfect unwanted alarm to wake the whole house up.
Does bird proofing affect my solar panel warranty?
As long as bird proofing is correctly installed on your solar panels, your warranty will not be affected. Inexperienced technicians are not always aware of this or how to ensure installation technique does not impact your solar panel warranty. This largely comes down to avoiding any need to drill into the panels while securing the system in place. Drilling into your solar panels renders your solar panel warranties void, leaving you financially liable should anything happen even during your warranty period.
Here at Optimum Electrics, our solar panel installers are experienced in fitting robust bird proofing systems to your solar panels at the time of installation, saving you money by avoiding expensive retrofitting costs.
Looking to install a solar PV system on your home or business premises? Contact our team today for expert advise and a free, no obligation quote and solar design.
01733 601698
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