South Facing Roof Solar Panels

Do you have to have a south facing roof to have solar panels.

South facing roof solar panels.

Debating on a having part of my solar panels 6 out of 20 facing west to catch some sun in the winter or b am i better off making more sun all facing south and banking that extra power made in a partial credit from the electric company for use in the winter time. The diagram shows how the sun passes over a house with solar panels on the south and west facing roof surfaces. However the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner. The flatter a south facing roof is i e.

The sun rises at 5 52 am and begins directly shining on the south facing panels at 8 15. Many roofs are going to have slopes between 30 and 40 degrees which means that solar panels can lie flush against the roof and produce enough electricity for attractive returns. The results backed us up on this theory showing poor. An ideal south facing roof here is pitched at 7 12 39ish degrees and the north side of that roof will produce less than half as much electricity.

Hi i live in hawaii 96740 and have a south facing roof. North facing panels on the other hand generally produce much less energy than south facing panels and usually present challenges for homeowners looking to go solar as panels installed on these roofs will not produce enough to make financial sense. In sydney south facing solar panels will typically produce around 28 less energy than north facing panels and the steeper the roof the less. 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.

Let s walk you through an average day august 6th to be exact. Solar panels are most effective when installed on south facing roofs. Options for properties with north facing roofs. We also took at look at a tilt angle of 40 for the south facing orientations mainly just to show that a south facing roof with a steep pitch is probably not a good place for solar panels.

Adding modules on the north side of the roof will not add much bang for the customer s solar buck and would qualify as solar malpractice in my book. If you are trying to install solar panels on a steep roof it may not be possible to place panels at the optimal tilt with traditional racking systems. When the sun shines onto the surface at an angle the panel will still generate electricity but it will be less effective. In the uk south facing panels will generate more than other orientations.

The direction that your roof faces also referred to as the azimuth angle is the primary factor determining how much sunshine your solar panels will see over the course of the day.