Which Way Should My Solar Panels Face

If your roof faces east west rather than north south you have a few options.

Which way should my solar panels face.

However you would want to face your solar panels in the opposite direction of where your shadows face. It is at this location that your panels will receive the maximum sunlight throughout the day. If your panels face north they ll receive light throughout the day. On the other hand if you live in the southern hemisphere you can use this same technique.

To correct the compass reading your solar installer will calculate the magnetic declination of your site. This is a simple tried and true way to. 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.

Solar south or geographic south. Joshua rhodes a postdoctoral research fellow in the webber energy group and the energy institute at the university. The following is a guest post by dr. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south.

If your roof does not face the right direction then surface mounted panels or pole mounted panels may be your best bet. 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. You could even stick a stick in the ground and take note. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere.

Another simple method is to look at your house on. This is the direction your solar panels should face. However the electricity system is not as simple as it sometimes seems and the best direction to face solar panels may actually be west. An east west split can normally have a different number of panels facing in each direction so if a household uses more electricity in the afternoon more solar panels can be installed facing west.

Which way should my solar panels be facing. Where should i install solar panels if the direction of my roof doesn t face the north. Unfortunately it also means that if your roof doesn t face north your options are limited. Because high feed in tariffs were available they simply had to have an orientation facing north in order to maximise the amount of electricity they produced and so earn the most feed in.

The conventional wisdom in the northern hemisphere is that the best direction to face solar panels is south since that is generally where they d receive the most sunlight. Five or six years ago the question of which direction solar panels should face was easy. True south can also be calculated at noon when shadows from vertical objects run north south. 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 most optimum direction to face your solar panels is somewhere between south and west.