Roof Orientation For Solar Panels

Solar panels should face south for any home in america to obtain maximum power generation.

Roof orientation for solar panels.

Panels mounted on a standard pitch roof facing east or west will produce approximately 15 less output than panels mounted on a south facing roof of a standard pitch. The sun s movements throughout the day. Well when it comes to solar panels west is second best. The size of solar panels makes them well suited to be installed vertically on most roofs.

As we have mentioned before in the southern hemisphere due north is usually the best orientation for panels. The amount of sunlight the roof gets could also impact the direction in which they are placed. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south. In general solar panels that are oriented directly east or directly west will produce about 20 percent less electricity than if they were facing south.

In the northern hemisphere the sun crosses the sky a little to the south which means putting solar panels on a south facing roof is the best way for homeowners to capture the most solar energy. But not everyone has a perfectly oriented roof. Orientation of the panels. Why orientation matters with rooftop solar.

In summary here are the roof factors that affect your home solar panel performance. Individual solar panels can also be adjusted to an optimal angle that maximizes their sun exposure. Therefore directions like southwest or southeast are fine. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere.

When your two best options are east or west which should you choose. Go west young one. A roof slope that angles between 15 40 degrees should suffice for most solar power systems. But what if you don t have a suitable south facing roof.

Your solar panel installers can help determine if your roof slope is suitable for solar panel installation. The solar assessor shall identify the orientation azimuth of the proposed array location and show the orientation on the site and roof plans. Since residential solar s infancy just two decades ago conventional wisdom has dictated that the panels face true south since that orientation is thought to provide them with the maximum possible sun exposure throughout the day. South is best west works well too and a mix is ok too.

Even with this decrease in performance solar panels will produce enough electricity to save you hundreds of dollars a year. The amount of energy each solar panel produces will be directly reduced by the amount of shade covering each panel so less shade is always better. Regardless of the orientation experts note that it is more efficient to have a consecutive block of solar panels installed using the same orientation either vertical or horizontal.