Over the past few months, our vans have been out on rooftops and ground-mounted arrays across the region, quietly getting to grips with a problem that a lot of solar owners don’t realise they have: dirty panels.

We’ve been running our professional solar panel cleaning service on a soft launch basis while we refined the process, tested our equipment on real commercial and domestic sites, and made sure the results matched what we promise our customers. Now that we’ve cleaned everything from small residential rooftops to large commercial arrays, we’re ready to officially introduce the service.

Rain doesn’t clean solar panels

It’s a common assumption — but not a correct one. Dirt, grime, and lichen build up on panel surfaces over time, and rain alone doesn’t shift it. Left unaddressed, this build-up reduces generation, creates shading, and can lead to hot spots that shorten the working life of a system.

A specialist service, not a general clean

Solar panels aren’t windows, and they shouldn’t be treated like them. We’ve developed a custom-built, mobile cleaning system using solar-specific equipment and biodegradable, panel-safe cleaning solutions — designed to remove dirt and lichen effectively without risking the panel surface, seals, or warranty.

Every clean includes:

  • Thorough cleaning using specialist, panel-safe equipment
  • Removal of dust, atmospheric grime, and bird droppings
  • A protective coating to help reduce future build-up
  • A post-clean visual inspection for damage

For customers who want a deeper look at system health, we also offer optional thermographic inspections, which can identify hot spots and faulty or underperforming panels that aren’t visible to the naked eye — ideally carried out once panels are clean.

A note on lichen

Lichen is a different challenge to everyday dirt and grime. It grows into the panel surface rather than sitting on top of it, so removing it properly takes more time, different techniques, and sometimes additional treatment.

Because of this, our standard cleaning quotes cover dust, atmospheric grime, and bird droppings — lichen is assessed separately. If we spot lichen on site that wasn’t part of the original quote, we’ll always flag it before doing anything further. From there, it’s your choice: add lichen treatment to the job, or go ahead with the standard clean, which will still deal with the everyday build-up affecting performance.

It’s a small extra step, but it means the price you’re quoted is the job we actually do — no surprises either way.

Available to everyone — not just our own customers

Whether or not Energi North East installed your system, we can clean it. The service is open to both commercial and domestic customers, and existing monitoring and service customers benefit from preferential pricing.

Backed by 16 years of solar expertise

This isn’t a sideline. It’s an extension of work we’ve been doing for over 16 years as a renewable energy specialist — installing, monitoring, and maintaining solar PV and energy storage systems. That background is exactly why we built our own equipment and processes for this, rather than adapting general cleaning tools for the job.

Get in touch

If you’d like a quotation for a one-off clean, or want to add cleaning to your existing service plan, get in touch with our team today.