[Tell It Right]

How often do you clean those 64 solar panels? I can imagine the cleaning for 10 acres of them. Perhaps we should get Inslee out for a cleaning job

I've never cleaned them once, not even with a water hose.

I've owned 32 of them for almost 2 years (21 months) and the other 32 for 5 months. All of them are far away from trees. Admittedly 40 of them (including the first 32) are installed on a steep pitch (meaning the rain washes them off better). That combined with a couple of nights per winter of snow or ice, which is good for them to be cleaned naturally when the ice melts in the morning, is all that's been done to clean them so far.

The other 20 panels (all of them owned just 5 months) are installed on roof that's gently slanted. My experience with those so far are only in the fall and winter. I wouldn't be surprised if I wind up having to rinse them off with a hose a time or two a year during pollen season.

Who in the world said anything about 10 acres of solar panels? That's crazy. You must be talking about trying to implement solar at the utility level. I don't like that idea at all. Utility power must be dependable.

[jonrick46]

I am thinking about solar panels in my rural area. Our county is too cheap to pave our roads and the dust whips up as cars travel through. It is a chore to keep our cars clean and have windshield wiper fluid to keep the windshields clean.

Washington State is beginning to build huge solar farms in areas where the fields will generate dust from the wind.

This is the 170-acre, 82,000 panel, 28 megawatts solar farm in Washington's Adams County. A nearby 300 acre farm is under construction. I wonder if there are plans to clean these panels?