Why Solar Panels Face South

The sun doesn t have to be beaming directly on the panels at the perfect angle.

Why solar panels face south.

We can install panels on south east or west facing roofs. In any pv system related project we tend to set up solar panels to face the solar south rather than the magnetic south. Why orientation matters with rooftop solar. Even with this decrease in performance solar panels will produce enough electricity to save you hundreds of dollars a year.

Does my house have to face south for solar to work. Now all of this is very important for utilities and legislators who are in charge of offering incentives for solar power or other measures that could reduce electricity demand at the height of the day. South facing panels produced a 54 percent peak reduction overall while west facing solar pv panels produced a 65 percent peak reduction. A solar power system facing south will produce more kilowatt hours than an identical system facing west.

If your roof faces slightly off south or even straight east west it is still very likely that solar pv could generate savings and income for you. As previously mentioned solar panels become more productive in the afternoon if they face west. Dave i think i know south is the best way to orient my solar panels or north if you happen to live in the southern hemisphere but do i want to face them magnetic south or true south dave. It turns out that the best fixed position for.

If you are charged a tou electricity tariff you can take advantage of this. The sun moves in the sky from east to west each day but it isn t straight overhead unless you are on the equator. 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. The direction your panels face is certainly a factor in how much they will generate and closer to south is better but it is only one factor.

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. For those who are not part of a tou model with their utility company the direction that you want to face your solar panels is south. The short answer is no. We re not concerned with the magnetic poles just where the sun is.

It has a southern offset especially in the winter when the sun is lower in the sky. North is the only direction that we don t want to put panels on. Face panels south for non tou ratepayers. 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.