North Facing Solar Panels

We start with a typical residential system in charlotte north carolina.

North facing solar panels.

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. This simply proves that the grid tie solar world is full of crooks. For example in brisbane if your panels are facing west 270 and are angled 20 from horizontal you will get 89 of the energy compared to the optimum orentation of north and 30. How much worse are north facing solar modules.

We have a blog about east and west facing solar panels and the basic gist is this. But we wanted to ask how bad is it to put solar panels on a north facing roof. North facing rooftop solar panels rarely best for consumers or for the grid university of south australia study finds that when it comes to solar self consumption optimal panel placement is. North facing panels on the other hand generally produce much less energy than south facing panels and usually present challenges for homeowners looking to go solar as panels installed on these roofs will not produce enough to make financial sense.

However the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner. Therefore the best angle for your solar panels is the one that allows the panels to get the most direct perpendicular light. We designed and modeled the system in helioscope our sales and design software platform. With a 2 12 pitched roof 9 5 tilt the south facing.

On a north facing roof at 25 7 that would be 5 362. In general west is second best because many places get early morning haze or fog which can reduce the power production of your panels. 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. Seeing pics of panels on north facing roofs panels in shade and even one system where panels were installed in shade made by an adjacent house all add up to this conclusion.

That optimal tilt will make you an estimated 7 732 kwh in a year from 5 5 kw of solar panels. West facing solar panels will also prepare you if your utility ever switched to time of use tou billing because they. For most of the usa it s between 25 and 38 south to north. West facing solar panels get less sun than those that face south but it s not as little as you may think.

The government should be basing any tax credits on net metering not the wattage of the panels.