Do My Solar Panels Have To Face South

For those who are not part of a tou model with their utility company the direction that you want to face your solar panels is south.

Do my solar panels have to face south.

Plenty of systems get installed on western systems and eastern and south eastern etc. But what if you don t have a suitable south facing roof. Solar panels should face south for any home in america to obtain maximum power generation. Since most sunlight comes from the south this will make your panels more productive.

Assuming you ve got good subsidies net metering and good sun it s still going to be very cost effective for you. Because if panels are not in the same direction as the orientation of the building then they will take up more space on the roof. Therefore directions like southwest or southeast are fine. However if the local power company charges higher prices in the afternoon your panels should face west to maximize the dollar savings.

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. Go west young one. See image below for illustration. Face panels south for non tou ratepayers.

This is a good action if you have enough space on the rooftop. On a flat roof if the orientation of the building is not strictly n s then you have the option of making panels face south. However solar panels can be orientated on any roof that faces south of either east or west. Your roof does not have to face exactly south true or not.

What you are doing is optimizing your energy production for maximum savings with your utility company. North now that s a problem. This is so that you can expose your solar panels to as much light as possible to optimize their energy production.