Some of our customers start to worry about their solar production at this time of year. Does my system produce at all during the winter? Will the snow block the sun? Will the snow melt? Should I shovel my roof? In this blog we are going to try to help answer all of these questions and make it easy to understand your solar energy production during a snowfall.
1. Do not get on your roof.
The most important thing we will tell you in this article is DO NOT GET ON YOUR ROOF when there is snow on your roof. The risk of falling is greatly increased at this time of year as people with a “do it yourself” attitude want to get up on the roof and manually remove snow from their panels. We do not recommend this as ice, snow, and rain can cause extreme slippery conditions and increase risk of harm.
2. Will the snow melt?
Yes, over time. Keep in mind that we placed your panels on the roofs that capture the most sunlight. This means that roofs with solar will necessarily melt faster. Your panels are also smooth, flat, and mostly black, the perfect combination to absorb sunlight and encourage snow to melt and slide off.
If you are concerned about the snow sliding off and harming someone or something, we also offer snow guards for our projects. These are metal bars that sit on the bottom of your solar panels and keep the snow from sliding off in a dangerous way. Shoot us an email letting us know you are interested in a snow guard quote, we use some great looking matte black guards from Alpine Snowguards.
3. Will my panels continue to produce while covered in snow?
No, your panels are not producing while covered in snow, but you don’t need them to. We built out your system to cover your annual electric needs, a cumulative number over 12 months. We already factored in the yearly average rainy, snowy, cloudy, and foggy days for your specific location in order to make sure that your system will produce what we promised. That means that over one year, your energy usage will be covered by your solar production no matter what the weather brings.
4. Should / Can I shovel my roof?
Again, we strongly advise that you stay on the ground and do not go on your roof while it is covered in snow. Raking your roof is not necessary as your promised production is not dependent on every day sunny weather. The snow will melt over time and slide off of your panels, and damage done to your system with a shovel or rake is not covered by your warranty.
5. What about my monitoring?
While there is snow on your roof your monitoring will show “waiting for data,” like we see in this example. This happens because the panels are not generating electricity to report. Once the snow melts, they will automatically start reporting again.
Here at SAVKAT we are monitoring the weather and your system in-office and see every system waiting for data during a snowfall, there is no need to notify us. Once the snow starts to melt, we also see the systems go back up and running.
Has your snow started to melt? Are you seeing your systems go back up and running?
We still are installing solar systems even in the snow, so don’t forget about referral bonuses this time of year! We pay out for every customer that you send our way who decides to go solar. Have them request a free quote from us or give us a call at 800-860-6932 to set up their consultation.
