Do Solar Panels Need To Face North

I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels.

Do solar panels need to face north. When the sun shines onto the surface at an angle the panel will still generate electricity but it will be less effective. 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. Solar panels convert light into dc electricity. The steeper it is the more it is an issue.

In the uk south facing panels will generate more than other orientations. 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. 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. Solar panels that face north west will produce around 5 less electricity overall than.

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. The flatter the roof the less solar energy production falls when panels face east or west rather than south. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere. North is the only direction that we don t want to put panels on.

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. Although doing this only brings about a 3 improvement in energy collection it will be a big deal if your solar array is huge or your extreme condition requires getting as much energy conversion as possible. Panels will even produce some electricity on cloudy days when you don t see an ounce of sunshine. If you re in the u s.

In any pv system related project we tend to set up solar panels to face the solar south rather than the magnetic south. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south. 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. The sun doesn t have to be beaming directly on the panels at the perfect angle to work.

Solar panels perform at their best when the sun is shining straight on to the panels. Or elsewhere in the northern hemisphere the best direction for solar panels to face is true south though there is an exception. In general there s one big rule. Net energy metering and time of use.

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.