Video: Two Common Questions about Solar Power

CAMPBELL — Host, Sarah Rutan: If you’re interested in solar power but don’t know much about it, you’ll want to know the answers to two basic questions. Today we’re in Campbell with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Rich Moore of Freedom Solar to learn more.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Rich Moore: Two questions that we’re frequently asked are is solar a good investment and how do I maintain that investment? If your electric bill is more than a hundred dollars a month, then solar usually will be a much better investment than buying directly from the utility. The greater your bill, the better return on investment you’ll get from solar.

As far as maintaining a system, the only real maintenance that’s required is washing your panels. You can wash them from the ground with a hose if you can reach it from there three to four times a year, or if you can only get to the panels by being on the roof, we recommend once or twice a year by climbing up and taking a soft cloth and water and just washing them down.

You see here we’ve got a pretty dirty panel. This is about one year’s worth of dirt that’s built up. What you want to do is take a soft cloth. It can be in water or a dish soap. Wash the panel down. Come back. You dry the panel to make sure it doesn’t streak and that will take care of the maintenance required. Keeping your panels clean will improve your electricity production by twenty-five percent a year. The more electricity you produce, the better your return on investment.

Host, Sarah Rutan: To learn more from local, top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified Expert Reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.