Solar Panel Pigeon Protection in Kettering - Ten-Year Guarantee
If we are talking about renewable energy in the Kettering area then it’s hard not to be drawn to creation of the The Energy Park Kettering . The ambitious project to combine wind and solar power on over 1,000 acres of land to the south east of the town at Burton Latimer was the first of its kind in the UK, and drew widespread acclaim as an example of how central government, local authorities and private industry can work successfully together to reduce carbon footprint and provide a sustainable power supply from renewable energy resources.
The target was to power over 15,000 homes in Kettering with renewable energy, and provide hundreds of local jobs at the same time.
In terms of take-up of home-owners contacting Kettering solar panel companies to get their own system fitted, the town has some catching up to do compared to nearby Corby, although the reasons are unclear. It’s estimated that in Northamptonshire, it takes about nine years for the solar panels to pay for themselves. That is of course if they are working as they should, and one or two factors can get in the way of that.
One of those is that pigeons absolutely love them. If you have solar panels, it’s likely that sooner or later you will need to contact Kettering solar panel pigeon proofing companies. With pigeons breeding year-round in the East Midlands, the ladies are constantly on the look-out for nesting sites. When they see solar panels going up, they think all their Christmases have come at once. The gap under panels provides them with exactly what they need to rear their young – shelter, warmth and security, nice and high up where the cats and other predators can’t get to them.
Unfortunately this creates all sorts of problems for the solar panel owner, not least the noise, which is likely to drive both you and your neighbours mad. But there are more serious issues. Pigeons ‘deposit’ around 25lb of droppings EACH a year. That’s about the weight of a two year old child. Some of that is going to be on top of the panels and that will shade the photovoltaic cells that drive your solar system and cause the panels to be inefficient and underperform.
The droppings also contain corrosive uric acid, which can damage the solar panel fittings over time, and they carry a long and ugly list of pathogens, bacteria and diseases, some of which are easily transmitted to humans and can make you very ill indeed. The local council classifies pigeon guano as ‘hazardous waste’, and with good reason. You need a special waste carrier’s licence to deal with it and if you haven’t got one (we have) it’s best left to the professionals for health reasons if nothing else. The bottom line is that pigeons under solar panels is a problem that needs dealing with.
The good news is that here at British Bird Control we can help through our specialist Kettering solar panel pigeon proofing service. We are based in Northamptonshire ourselves, just down the road from Kettering, and we know just how stop the pigeons getting underneath solar panels, so that they will move on, long term. And we offer a gilt-edged TEN-YEAR GUARANTEE with all our solar panel pigeon protection work in Northamptonshire and we cover most of the surrounding area including Wellingborough and Irthlingborough, Thrapston, Rushden, Rothwell and Burton Latimer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does solar panel pigeon protection cost? solar panels?
At British Bird Control we like to keep things nice and simple when it comes to the cost of solar panel pigeon protection, and we are very competitive indeed on price. Our cost structure is largely based on whether or not our operatives will require scaffolding to carry out the work safely.
We can usually work this out from a telephone consultation and a quick look at your property on Google Earth, and can often provide you with a quotation over the phone. We require a 25% deposit to book in. Call us on 0800 327 7293.
Pigeons are creating a mess on my solar panels and roof tiles. Can you clean this?
Providing you can provide an in-reach external tap, the work includes free-of-charge removal of mess and fouling from inside the gutters beneath the installation where we can get ladders to the gutters and where it’s safe to do so, and also a rinse down (not a full clean) of the panel surfaces.
This should shift any light build-up of fouling and dirt, but if you have a heavy build-up of fouling, algae and/or lichens on the panel surfaces a specialist chemical clean would be needed and this is not something we can offer as a pest control company.
We do not clean roof tiles which again is a specialist service and take no responsibility for blocked downpipes which can become clogged up with a build-up of fouling and are not able to help with this as freeing it requires specialist equipment. We treat where nesting has been going on regardless of whether we can safely get all the nests out with biocide.
Are pigeons affecting the performance of my solar panels?
If you have birds getting under solar panels and believe this could be adversely affecting the performance of the panels and the very reason you got them in the first place, please let us know during the telephone consultation.
We have teams that can evaluate and fix solar panel performance on the spot, but if this is the case we may need to make a separate visit before the solar panel proofing takes place to check whether there is a short circuit, broken solar panel inverter, or other electrical issue which would make it dangerous to be on the roof until fixed. Please also let us know if you think there are dead adult pigeons under solar panels when we talk on the phone – they may have been electrocuted!
