Interesting. I haven't noticed any problems, but I haven't looked real closely either. I'll try to monitor power output to see if there's any fluctuations indicative of such an intrusion.

 

There was an interesting article that I remember reading about this. What usually happens is if a person is eating and doesn't wash their hands and leaves a residue of food of some sort on the cables then a squirrel or what not, might become interested in the cables and end up chewing them. So again, good sanitation is important, even when installing solar

 

So, if I change my own antifreeze and leave a little residual during installation, will it just kill them?

 

I think I would try to find some local knowledge on the issue like at a local hardware store, auto parts store, mechanic, farm supply, etc. If you have a certain local species that is attracted to wiring, it is probably affecting other people. There might be a local remedy that works on that kind of animal in your particular climate.

Is your damage located in the rooftop area? If so, I would suspect squirrels since they are such good climbers. I know someone who had surprisingly good luck getting rid of squirrels simply by live trapping them and relocating them one by one. Didn't take as long as you might think.

 

Solar rodents

I had a pigeon problem under my panels. I had an animal control company come out and clean up the mess and install wire mesh around them. When I added panels, the company included the mesh this time around.

 

Its common and a installer could have used screen around the array to keep them from getting under the panels.

 

We live at squirrel ground zero, but they seem to be leaving our solar array alone. They did eat all the wires on my husband's vintage motorcycle one winter . . . kept the squirrels and sold the bike.

 

Can EMT (galvanized steel conduit) be used to run the wires?

 

For the final homerun back to the MSP, sure, but from panel to panel, or from panel to microinverter, it is just not practical to have so many individual conduit runs (they all need to be properly grounded). Typically, the wires are run in a trough within, or clipped to the side of, either the panel frames and/or the racking.

 

I talked with our PV installer, and was advised that there are only a few exposed wires on our system that are not in metal conduits. He also advised that the local ground squirrel population, while happy to gnaw on vehicle wiring, doesn't get up on roofs and bother the PV arrays. He also said that the tree squirrels on the Front Range in Colorado are a real problem for PV systems, and many installations do feature wire screens to keep them at bay.

 

You need to have them continue the study...
https://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1015.pdf

 

There was a time when I used to test smaller panels in my backyard. Just set them up on the ground. Yeah, don't do that. Rabbits in my area chewed up most of the smaller wires.

 

i had a squirrel eat some insulation on my solar hot water panels- dealer installed wire mesh (specifically made for this purpose)

 

Start by removing any tree limbs that would allow easy access to your roof. That will stop some of them.
Then add a wire mesh around the edges of the array. There are a few products designed especially for that purpose, but standard mesh would be cheaper.

 

I've not noticed any damage, but then again, I've not looked for any. Squirrels in the neighborhood use my roof as a freeway to the pecan trees in our yard. So maybe they get their fill while there instead.

One aside; we've also seen a road runner up there a few years ago and it sounds like a workman with boots on when a raccoon traverses our roof. Except for the A/C plenum in the hallway and bathrooms, we have a fully vaulted ceiling across the entire house with only 9" between our ceiling and the roof, so we hear each footstep.

 

Pigeons are my problem, they want to nest under my panels, but they are pretty smart birds, drop a couple of them and the rest seem to know the panels are off limits.