Solar Panel Pigeon Protection in Southend on Sea - 10 Year Guarantee
Southend hit the news in 2015 with the announcement that London Southend Airport was planning to build a £2million solar panel farm north of the runways to help power its continuing development.
The move followed the success of fitting some 500 solar panels on its roof a couple of years earlier that were part of the airport’s £10 million terminal expansion. These panels power the terminals shops, cafes and restaurants.
The new 9,500 panel farm opened in 2016 with a view to generating some 20% of the airport’s annual electricity requirements and it is cited by many as a great example of how this renewable energy source can dovetail into business across the region.
Southend on Sea Borough Council is doing its bit, continuing to encourage Southend on Sea residents to look at their energy efficiencies themselves, and investing public money in a number of solar panel project including around £1million on solar panel installations on the roofs of Southend Hospital, The Cliffs Pavillion and Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre.
Southend’s location in the south of the country means that residents who go down the solar panel route will get payback around a year before those in the north, thanks to around 100 more hours of sunshine every year. It’s thought that here in Southend it will take just over eight years to pay for itself .
That is of course if the solar panels are working properly, and sometimes they don’t. A prime candidate for adversely affecting their performance when pigeons are in town, which is exactly where they usually are and you may soon find yourself looking for Southend solar panel pigeon proofing services.
Pigeons love solar panels, especially the girls, who know a good nesting spot when they see one – high, warm, sheltered, secure… thanks very much!
The problem is the when you have pigeons under solar panels, there are a number of unwanted knock on effects. Firstly there’s an awful lot of noise…. from the female pigeons under the panels…. their hungry chicks… and their partners who will be keeping watch nearby, usually on your roof, gutter or Sky TV dish. The noise often extends to complaints from the neighbours as well.
Then there is the mess. When you get pigeon droppings on your panels, it is going to shade out the sun radiation which creates the electricity. It’s corrosive too. Over time the uric acid in the droppings may corrode the fittings underneath the panels, and potentially damage the surface and cells. Pigeon guano is classified as hazardous waste by the local authority and with good reason. It’s a vector for all sorts of nasty bacteria and diseases, some of which are readily passed to humans and can make us very ill. It all needs dealing with.
The good news is that here at British Bird Control we can help through our Southend-on-Sea solar panel pigeon proofing service. 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 Essex including in Basildon, Canvey Island, Clacton and Colchester.
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!
