Do Solar Panels Need To Face North

According to the concord consortium makers of energy3d solar energy modeling software a home in boston ma with panels that face west would get 80 of the electricity that a house with south facing panels would.

Do solar panels need to face north.

The sun doesn t have to be beaming directly on the panels at the perfect angle to work. Solar panels convert light into dc electricity. Solar panels that face north west will produce around 5 less electricity overall than. 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.

West facing solar panels get less sun than those that face south but it s not as little as you may think. 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. If you re in the u s. In general there s one big rule.

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. The steeper it is the more it is an issue. 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. 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.

Or elsewhere in the northern hemisphere the best direction for solar panels to face is true south though there is an exception. In locations that are not far to the north such as florida or texas solar panels do not need a drastic tilt. As you move farther to the north the sun has a lower position in the sky and solar panels must be tilted more. Installing panels that face north is not recommended since it results in the lowest electricity output.

Panels will even produce some electricity on cloudy days when you don t see an ounce of sunshine. The more sunlight reaches your solar panels the more electricity you can generate and the more money you ll be able to save on your electric bill. Net energy metering and time of use. 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.

This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere. I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south.