Annual solar maintenance plans across Townsville.
One scheduled visit per year. Deionised-water panel clean, CEC-accredited inverter health check and full output test — all in one trip. Written report and annual-clean certificate that satisfies Tier-1 manufacturer warranty conditions on Trina, LG, REC, Jinko and SunPower panels. The cheapest insurance you can buy on a $15K-$25K rooftop solar investment.
What an annual maintenance plan includes.
One visit, everything covered.
We schedule one annual visit, typically 90-120 minutes on-site, that combines the three core services in a single trip:
- Deionised-water panel clean — full soft-brush wash, removes red dust, bird droppings, lichen, salt-air film. Warranty-safe. Restores 15-25% of lost output. See panel cleaning for the method detail.
- CEC-accredited inverter health check — DC isolator test, error-code download, firmware update, summer heat-derating check, AS/NZS 4777 compliance scan. See inverter health check for details.
- Performance / output test — clamp-meter + IV-curve trace per string, compared against nameplate kWp and Townsville climate-adjusted baseline. See output testing for the methodology.
Why bundle — the Tier-1 warranty story.
Most Townsville solar buyers in the 2012-2017 FiT boom went with Tier-1 panels — Trina, LG, REC, Jinko, SunPower — with headline product warranties of 10, 12, 15 or even 25 years. What buyers didn’t always read was the fine print: almost all the major Tier-1 manufacturers now require documented annual cleaning to honour the product warranty. Without records, the warranty is effectively void — if a panel fails after 8 years and you claim under the 25-year warranty, the first thing the manufacturer’s service team asks for is your cleaning history. No history = no claim paid. The annual maintenance plan provides exactly the documentation the manufacturer requires.
The financial maths.
Take a typical 5kW Townsville system installed in 2014 on the legacy 44c FiT (runs to 30 June 2028). At full nameplate it produces around 7,500 kWh/year — about $3,300/yr in FiT credits alone, plus self-consumption value. Without annual cleaning that same system typically loses 15-25% of output to dust, droppings and salt — call it 20% average. That’s $660/yr lost. The annual maintenance plan costs $220-$380/yr. The math runs itself.
On a newer system on the current 5-6c FiT, the FiT-credit lever is smaller but self-consumption value (avoided grid purchase at 27-32c/kWh) is larger — the financial case is just as strong, just structured differently.
What you get in writing.
After each annual visit you receive a single PDF report covering:
- Pre-clean and post-clean output readings (kW per string)
- Photo evidence of array before and after clean
- Inverter firmware version, error log download, isolator state
- IV-curve trace per string with degradation calculation
- Per-panel inferred performance flags
- AS/NZS 4777 + AS/NZS 5033 compliance status
- Recommended next-year scheduling and any flagged issues
- Annual-clean certificate signed by CEC-accredited contractor
Plan pricing.
- Small system plan (3-5kW, easy access): $220–$280/yr
- Standard residential plan (5-6.6kW, single inverter): $280–$340/yr
- Larger residential plan (8-10kW, multi-string): $320–$380/yr
- Coastal plan with semi-annual visits (North Ward, Pallarenda, foreshore): $420–$580/yr
- Commercial / rural plan: quoted individually
All plans paid annually after the visit (no auto-renew, no lock-in, cancel any time). We’ll send the annual reminder a month ahead and book a time that suits.
Where we work.
Set up your annual maintenance plan.
One visit per year. Clean + inverter check + output test. Documented for Tier-1 warranty. No lock-in.