South Facing Roof 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.

South facing roof solar panels.

The diagram shows how the sun passes over a house with solar panels on the south and west facing roof surfaces. The sun rises at 5 52 am and begins directly shining on the south facing panels at 8 15. 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.

Do you have to have a south facing roof to have solar panels. Let s walk you through an average day august 6th to be exact. 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. Solar panels perform at their best when the sun is shining straight on to the 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. The results backed us up on this theory showing poor. 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. In sydney south facing solar panels will typically produce around 28 less energy than north facing panels and the steeper the roof the less.

Options for properties with north facing roofs. 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. In the uk south facing panels will generate more than other orientations. 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.

When the sun shines onto the surface at an angle the panel will still generate electricity but it will be less effective. 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. The closer to horizontal the better it will be for solar. Solar panels are most effective when installed on south facing roofs.

However the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner.