Optimal Direction For Solar Panels

The traditional advice is to position solar panels to be south facing.

Optimal direction for solar panels.

Latitude x 0 9 29 degrees. 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. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south. Therefore directions like southwest or southeast are fine.

Latitude 2 5 degrees. Pick the right location and solar panel direction. However the electricity system is not as simple as it sometimes seems and the best direction to face solar panels may actually be west. This is because for those of us living in the northern hemisphere the sun is always along the southern part of the sky as we complete our yearly orbit around it.

The conventional understanding is that the ideal solar panel direction is facing south. Similarly you can calculate the angle for winter by adding 15. Latitude x 0 9 23 5 degrees. The direction solar panels should face is true south a k a.

However it has been proven that west facing solar panels can produce more power. Solar panels should face south for any home in america to obtain maximum power generation. What is the best direction for my solar panels. 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.

This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere. Both of these angles require latitude degrees. Solar south or geographic south. Whatever your latitude is you can subtract 15 from it to calculate the angle for summer.

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. To correct the compass reading your solar installer will calculate the magnetic declination of your site. Once you have figured this out you can use one of the formulas below to calculate the best angle for your solar panels for each season. In the northern hemisphere the general rule for solar panel placement is solar panels should face true south and in the southern true north.

There are two methods for calculating the tilt angle for solar panels.