Solar panel cleaning on the Las Olas finger islands
The islands off Las Olas Boulevard, Seven Isles, Nurmi Isles, Idlewyld, Hendricks Isle and the rest, are estate lots with water on both sides of every street and a dock at the end of every yard. The houses are high-value and so are the roofs: newer standing-seam metal on the rebuilt lots, barrel tile on the older ones, and large arrays on both. Direct Intracoastal exposure means these panels get more salt than any roof in Fort Lauderdale.
Direct salt exposure
There is no buffer here. Marine aerosol settles on the glass every day as a thin film that cuts output without looking dirty, and rain does not rinse it. Add the summer Saharan dust and the wet-season algae streak along the lower edge of each module and an island array that has not been cleaned in a year is carrying a lot of haze. We clean the isles with deionized water only. It dissolves the salt, dries with nothing left behind, and leaves no mineral spots on the glass or streaks on a metal roof. Tap water would put calcium on top of the salt.
For most homes on the isles the right schedule is quarterly. The maintenance plan puts four visits on the calendar and sends the photo report to your phone, which matters here because a lot of these homes are occupied part of the year.
Metal and tile, worked from the pole
On standing-seam metal we clean from a water-fed pole at the eave and never walk the roof wet. On barrel tile we do the same wherever the array can be reached, and use walk pads on the tile overlap when it cannot. Every panel is photographed before and after.
Gulls and pelicans are part of life on the water and their droppings land on the panels, not under them. They come off with the soft brush. The tile-roof homes get pigeons under the array like everywhere else in the city; see the bird guard section below.
Private roads, patrols, and discretion
Several of the isles have private roads or a security patrol. We register ahead of the visit, carry a certificate of insurance, show up in a marked truck inside the agreed window, and are usually gone in under two hours. Photos and a condition note arrive the same day. What lands on the glass, month by month, is on the soiling calendar.