Get Your Solar System Ready for Winter
Regardless of whether you live in a warmer state, or you live in an area with colder temperatures, you should prepare your solar system for the winter season. Although Dominion Energy Solutions’ solar energy systems are carefully designed to be low maintenance, here are some suggestions that you may find very useful. Read more to find out common questions we have been asked by our customers.
Will My Panel System Produce Less Solar Energy During Colder Times?
The simple answer is that if it’s sunny outside, your system will still produce energy. Summer isn’t the only season to reap benefits from your solar system. At Dominion Energy Solutions, we provide our customers with high quality solar panels that perform very well in all weather conditions including cold weather or cloudy days. We’re known for offering the most efficient panels on the market, which means that our panels can generate more energy in less space. To put numbers behind it, most top grades such as the REC solar panels we use generate 55% more energy than conventional solar panels in the same space.
Should I Remove Snow from My Panels?
It’s not usually mandatory to remove snow from your solar panels, as more often than not, it would usually melt in a short amount of time. Removing snow from your panels can also be a riskier procedure than not. If there’s any buildup of snow or ice that can reduce the amount of absorbed sunlight, the dark panel surfaces will retain heat and help remove any weather-related build-up.
We often get asked if the weight of snow will hurt the solar panels or roof. Since the weight is distributed evenly across a wide surface area, it makes the risk of snow weight insignificant.
Will Extreme Winter Weather Affect My Solar Panels?
At Dominion Energy Solutions, we are proud to install only the highest quality and most durable solar panels, with solar cells backed with a strong copper foundation, rather than the conventional metal tracking across the front, which is often affected by temperature changes that can weaken them.
The solar cell design is strong and flexible, even under the harshest weather conditions, giving it a very low degradation rate. In case you’re wondering, degradation rate is the reduction of power output that a solar panel experiences over time. The bottom-line is that solar panels are efficient no matter the time of year.
How Can I Make My Home More Winter Ready?
During the winter, the daylight hours are shorter, especially in our state of Virginia and the northern states. Luckily with net metering, you will be able to roll over credits generated for a whole year and make up for any energy production differences throughout the year. Although net metering is a very useful tool, we always recommend property owners to ensure their homes are as energy efficient as possible.
Here are some tips we always recommend:
- If you use an electric or gas heater, make sure you weatherproof your home by stopping any drafts, insulating electrical outlets, and weatherstripping windows. All of these measures are easy and fairly inexpensive to keep cold weather out, and the heat in.
- Increase insulation in your house, by replacing windows and doors with more efficient versions and installing a smart thermostat to keep ideal temperatures when not in your home.
If you install a solar panel system with Dominion Energy Solutions, you are already ready for winter weather. It is recommended, however, to keep an eye on your production and consumption with your monitoring app to help you maintain a low utility bill.
With these suggestions in mind, you can enjoy your comfortable home during colder weather, with the peace of mind of not being hit by a high energy bill, that it’s being heated with cleaner, sustainable energy.
If you’re considering solar panels, learn how you can take advantage of Investment Tax Credit and save up to 30% on your solar purchase. Check out more details about Virginia’s solar incentives today!
