Snow causes only a minor amount of lost production. For most roof-mounted solar installations it is not worthwhile to do any snow removal.
First and foremost, Solvest does not recommend putting yourself in danger in order to clear snow/debris from your solar array.
For accessible roofs (single story, balcony access, low pitch), snow can be easily pushed off the panels with a long brush. However, clearing the snow from a low to medium pitch roof would only result in 1% - 5% more annual production depending on the tilt, azimuth, and shading factors of the solar array.
The risk is too high relative to the gained production to make this worthwhile for most system owners.
When modeling roof-mounted solar systems, Solvest takes snow losses into account when preparing all the figures included in your proposal. When modeling your system, we assume the following snow loss factors:
- 10% in October
- 100% in November
- 100% in December
- 100% in January
- 100% in February
- 65% in March
In turn, the financial estimates in our proposals are calculated with local conditions in mind, allowing our clients to make informed decisions and budget accurately.
For ground-mounted solar arrays, it is assumed that occasional snow clearing is done by the system owner during the months of October, February, and March. Because of the increased tilt of the ground racking, it is both easier to clear snow and the panels are better able to collect sunlight at lower Winter angles.
