Why orientation matters with rooftop solar.
Solar panels south east facing roof.
If your roof faces east west rather than north south you have a few options.
Here s a quick example of a south west facing roof in london.
In general solar panels that are oriented directly east or directly west will produce about 20 percent less electricity than if they were facing south.
Just make sure there s no obstructions that would cause shade on the panels and you re golden.
Is my roof suitable for pv solar panels.
What happens if your roof isn t facing south.
I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels.
The flatter a south facing roof is i e.
For most australians south is the worst direction modules can face and some people consider installing panels facing south almost as large a mistake as installing them upside down.
At lower pitches say 30 the east west facing panels perform slightly closer to south.
In sydney south facing solar panels will typically produce around 28 less energy than north facing panels and the steeper the roof the less.
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.
We assumed a 40 elevation for the roof.
An example of a south west facing roof.
One solution is to compensate by increasing the solar collector area either using more panels or larger collectors.
Panels mounted on a standard pitch roof facing east or west will produce approximately 15 less output than panels mounted on a south facing roof of a standard pitch.
At higher pitches the difference increases.
Solar panels facing east or west won t get as much light as those on a southern facing roof.
A south south east or south west facing roof is ideal for homes in the uk.
Solar panel orientation in the uk.
Your solar panel orientation is very important when it comes to maximising the amount of electricity that your solar panels will produce.
Panels on a south facing roof even laid flat will almost invariably produce more electricity that east facing panels.
We also took at look at a tilt angle of 40 for the south facing orientations mainly just to show that a south facing roof with a steep pitch is probably not a good place for solar panels.
The closer to horizontal the better it will be for solar.
However solar panels can be orientated on any roof that faces south of either east or west.
As we re in the northern hemisphere the best solar panel orientation is obviously south but.
Therefore directions like southwest or southeast are fine.