Green Cleaning for Environmentally Friendly Solar Panels
About the client
One of the factors that makes Aquamark so popular is a commitment to finding green, energy efficient cleaning methods.
We were invited to bid for a large contract cleaning the hundreds of solar panels on Thames Water’s sites in Walton on Thames and Crossness. Aquamark’s fastidious adherence to Health and Safety coupled with effective, green cleaning methods won the company the contract, beating competition from three other window cleaning firms.
Keeping up to Date with Health and Safety
The extensive solar panels at Thames Water were installed by solar power experts Solaris. The panels come from Germany and an important part of their maintenance and efficiency is that they are cleaned properly and regularly.
Thames Water is very strict on ensuring all Health and Safety guidelines are adhered to. All contractors must be able to demonstrate that they share the same ethos and values where safety is concerned and this means having all the necessary papers and certificates to hand.
Brad Staines, Aquamark Director, saw this as an opportunity: “Meeting all Health and Safety guidelines, in every aspect of our practice, is something that has always been important to us. Thames Water required access to all our papers before they would consider us for the contract. We take this extremely seriously and were able to produce all the necessary documents – and more – easily.”
Getting on With the Job
Having all the necessary Health and Safety documents in order not only won Aquamark the Thames Water contract to clean the solar panels every six months but it also means the team of professional cleaners are left to work without being supervised by Thames Water’s Health and Safety team.
The panels are effectively cleaned by the water-fed pole system that gives a perfect finish without the need for chemical based cleaners.
Water is pumped through the poles at great pressure giving a powerful and effective jet that leaves a pristine finish so that the solar panels can function at their optimum level.
Opportunities Abound
Both Solaris and Thames Water are very pleased with the service that’s being given by Aquamark. At present the teams provide window cleaning for the two sites but this looks set to expand. There are four more sites in the area that, once completed, may add to Aquamark’s solar panel cleaning contract.