Do Solar Panels Need To Face North

As you move farther to the north the sun has a lower position in the sky and solar panels must be tilted more.

Do solar panels need to face north.

In locations that are not far to the north such as florida or texas solar panels do not need a drastic tilt. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south. Or elsewhere in the northern hemisphere the best direction for solar panels to face is true south though there is an exception. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere.

Over the last few years we have created the first online solar production calculator that works out the exact solar production that you will get for your home based on the direction and. We are looking at installing a 5kw system lg neon 2 panels and fornius inverter on a double storey house and had initially thought of splitting the panels between our north east and west facing roofs so that we got production over most of the day 8 panels north 4 east and 4 west. The sun doesn t have to be beaming directly on the panels at the perfect angle to work. The flatter the roof the less solar energy production falls when panels face east or west rather than south.

In general there s one big rule. The direction that your solar panels face is ultimately dependent on whether or not your system is connected through net energy metering nem and under a time of use tou payment structure. Panels will even produce some electricity on cloudy days when you don t see an ounce of sunshine. North is the only direction that we don t want to put panels on.

Installing panels that face north is not recommended since it results in the lowest electricity output. We built a model of a generic solar panel and calculated its output for every possible placement including orientation like the face of a clock with 12 as north and 6 as south and tilt from 0. Since the majority of solar panel owners keep their system on the grid we can split this grouping into simply those who pay for energy based on a tou payment. West facing solar panels get less sun than those that face south but it s not as little as you may think.

If you re in the u s. While the angle of your solar panels is important a more important factor in your energy production is going to be the direction your panels face. The steeper it is the more it is an issue. I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels.

However because of the reduction in the total amount of electricity generated compared to north facing panels the increase in self consumption that will result will need to be considerable to make west facing solar panels worthwhile. Net energy metering and time of use. Solar panels that face north west will produce around 5 less electricity overall than.