Steve Williams, Managing Director of Clean Solar Solutions has been contracted to provide solar panel cleaning and PV maintenance consultancy for a Gibraltar-based solar installer. Gibraltar is now on the road towards achieving a more sustainable balance to meeting their energy requirements and has installed a number of rooftop solar installations across a port, olympic-standard swimming complex and number of other public buildings.
Though entering late into the solar sector, this enables Gibraltar to consider the problems experienced elsewhere as the technology evolves in practice. They are learning from lessons that countries such as the U.K. have learned the hard way. This will ensure that solar power in Gibraltar hits the ground running.
EVG (The Energy Vision Group) is pioneering this technology in Gibraltar with Eufon (gib) Ltd and other technical partners. It arranged for a leading U.K. company at the forefront of resolving solar maintenance issues in the U.K. to assess their specific requirements. Being coastal, assessing the impact of seagulls and negating these effects was a chief focus.
Clean Solar Solutions are specialists in cleaning. Clean Solar Solutions came to life in 2013, led by M.D. Steve Williams. With a 19-year background in the cleaning industry they were able to tackle the challenge. Steve has dedicated his time and attention to the technical side of solar panel cleaning, focussing strongly on health & safety. Stand-out milestones of Clean Solar Solutions include:
- The first cleaning of a utility-scale ground mounted solar farm in the UK
- The cleaning of the UK’s largest roof mounted solar array at its time of install
- The cleaning of Europe’s largest floating solar array at its time of install
- The cleaning of the U.K.’s largest solar carport
- Cleaning over 4 million panels in their first 5 years of business
- Expansion into Ireland, Australia, Belgium and Gibraltar
Clean Solar Solutions main focus is increasing solar output through solar panel cleaning, as well as offering other solar O&M services. As solar panels accumulate various types of soiling, the soiling creates ‘hotspots’ within the solar panel and the output of the solar array as a whole drops. By cleaning the soiling off the solar panels, increases in output are seen.
VIDEO: Removing Lichen & Bird Droppings From Solar Panels
Clean Solar Solutions are true pioneers of solar panel cleaning, tackling projects that other companies are either unwilling or unable to tackle. Their innovative approach to getting their clients results what they need keeps them at the forefront of the global solar panel cleaning marketplace. The clue is in their name, ‘Solutions’, they find safe solutions to the problems their prospective clients face. As a result, they already have a pipeline of contracted bookings for cleans as far ahead as April 2024!
Steve Williams, MD of Clean Solar Solutions comments “It is firmly our mission as a company to go where no other solar panel cleaning company has been before. We expect to grow globally, and this is largely due to our specialist knowledge of solar panel cleaning, including such issues our clients face, such as lichen growth. We continue to advise the solar industry regarding best practice guidelines for solar panel cleaning at a Europe-wide level and our knowledge has also been sought after in Mexico, Canada and many other countries. This is a very exciting time for our company and look forward to working with EVG towards meeting all Gibraltar’s requirements and spearheading solar maintenance services into Morocco and Europe with Gibraltar as a potential service hub.”
As part of the consultancy service, Steve Williams visited Gibraltar, carried out site surveys on roofs where PV was already installed addressing the risks and challenges that these roofs presented. He also visited 2 sites where EVG and Eufon intend to build solar arrays to assess the roofs, proposed PV layouts and advise further regarding tweaks to system design which will enable easy cleaning and maintenance on the systems. Upon his return to the U.K., Steve built reports and proposals for each site, advising on health & safety, cleaning and servicing frequencies, cleaning equipment to be used, bird deterrents to be installed and other issues. These comprehensive reports will serve EVG and Eufon well for the life of these assets, ensuring the cost vs benefit ratio stacks up for solar panel cleaning and ensure that their systems are installed with safe access for O&M contractors.
Clean Solar Solutions continue to expand across Europe and no doubt their knowledge and expertise will continue to grow as this pioneering company presses ahead with great ambition. There are clear synergies with The Energy Vision Group, both companies committed not only to ensuring Gibraltar’s service requirements are met making Gibraltar the standard bearer, exporting the knowledge to industry in Africa and Europe. Clean Solar Solutions look forward to offering their solar panel cleaning and maintenance consultancy service to EVG and Eufon with the future expansions.
Clean Solar Solutions provide global solar panel cleaning and maintenance consultancy, for single site up to multi-gigawatt portfolios. If you are a site owner, asset manager or O&M company and have a requirement for optimising the solar panel cleaning on a single site or a portfolio, please feel free to contact us.