Do Solar Panels Need To Face North

If you re in the u s.

Do solar panels need to face north.

The steeper it is the more it is an issue. In general there s one big rule. 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. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere.

Net energy metering and time of use. Or elsewhere in the northern hemisphere the best direction for solar panels to face is true south though there is an exception. I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels. Solar panels convert light into dc electricity.

When the sun shines onto the surface at an angle the panel will still generate electricity but it will be less effective. Solar panels that face north west will produce around 5 less electricity overall than. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south. 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.

Panels will even produce some electricity on cloudy days when you don t see an ounce of sunshine. The sun doesn t have to be beaming directly on the panels at the perfect angle to work. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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 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.

West facing solar panels get less sun than those that face south but it s not as little as you may think. North is the only direction that we don t want to put panels on. In any pv system related project we tend to set up solar panels to face the solar south rather than the magnetic south. The flatter the roof the less solar energy production falls when panels face east or west rather than south.

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