Does It Matter Which Way You Orient Solar Panels

If you re in the u s.

Does it matter which way you orient solar panels. 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. As you may have read elsewhere solar panels should face true south. There are a few reasons why most solar panels are installed vertically. However each of the above only considers.

If it s standing upright perpendicular to the ground it is at a 90 angle. The size of solar panels makes them well suited to be installed vertically on most roofs. This is a simple tried and true way to find the perfect direction and like i said you can do it with no tools. Like monocrystalline polycrystalline boasts a long lifespan and usually comes bundled with a 25 year warranty.

Polycrystalline solar panels pros. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere. In general there s one big rule. Solar panel angle is another way of describing the vertical tilt of your pv system.

For the southern hemisphere solar panels should face true north. It is easier to have a continuous row of solar panels if they are installed vertically. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south. However in some cases it may be better to install them horizontally or at some other angle for other considerations.

Recently the new york times and popular science even purported that solar panels should face west rather than south to avoid unintended consequences. Fewer rails are required to mount a solar panel vertically instead of horizontally. However you would want to face your solar panels in the opposite direction of where your shadows face. 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.

When a solar system is level with the ground it has no tilt. On the other hand if you live in the southern hemisphere you can use this same technique. Or elsewhere in the northern hemisphere the best direction for solar panels to face is true south though there is an exception. It does so by spinning counterclockwise along its axes.

This table shows you how much energy you can expect to get from almost any combination of solar panel direction and angle in the capital cities compared to the optimum orientation. The other important factor is angle. 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. Polycrystalline panels are somewhat less efficient than monocrystalline panels think 13 16 efficiency rather than 15 20 but not by much and for the slight decrease in efficiency you can save a considerable amount of money.

That is the rule of thumb for the northern hemisphere.