Cleaning Solar Panels - Will it make much difference?

[Nifty]

This was interesting...

I was looking at my data on my solar panels and I kept seeing this one panel consistently under-performing compared to the rest.

I of course know that different panels have different efficiencies from during manufacturing, but this one had never been a problem before.

So, for a few days I've been meaning to go outside and take a look at the panel to see what I could find, and I saw this:

So, it looks like when I cleaned my panels a few months ago, I didn't do a very thorough job on this one panel, and it's obviously making a difference! You can see the darker areas at the top of the middle panel where the dirt is causing the panel to be less shiny.

 

[Britesea]

Interesting. But it definitely makes sense that a solar panel not receiving as much solar energy as its neighbors would not work as well