Where Should Solar Panels Be Placed

Every home is unique and it s best to speak with an expert in solar to understand where solar panels should be placed on your roof.

Where should solar panels be placed.

For the sake of example if you are getting 5 hours of direct sunlight per day in a sunny state like california you can calculate your solar panel output this way. Overall the angle of your rooftop has less impact on solar panel performance than the direction your roof faces. Ground mounted solar panels can even be placed on trackers which adjust the position of the panels throughout the year in order to maximize the amount of sunlight reaching them. The maximum energy production is achieved at midday when the sun reaches its maximum altitude on the horizon.

5 hours x 290 watts an example wattage of a premium solar panel 1 450 watts hours or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours kwh. Outside of tou the biggest factors that influence the direction of your solar panels are shading and other obstructions that impact the panel s exposure to light. However pitch angles between 30 and 45 degrees will work well in most situations. Solar panel angle by zip code.

For example some solar panels could be placed facing north and some facing west. Many roofs are going to have slopes between 30 and 40 degrees which means that solar panels can lie flush against the roof and produce enough electricity for attractive returns. Ideally a fixed roof mounted solar energy system should be at an angle that is equal to the latitude of the location where it is installed. As i said earlier the more a solar panel is perpendicular to the sun s rays the more it produces electricity.

Solar panel installers are presented with a number of challenges when designing and installing flat roof solar panels. If ground or wall mounted panels don t work for you solar panels can also be mounted on a building near your house like your garage or a storage shed. Panels can be placed in multiple directions other than just an east west split. The table below features a solar panel angle by zip code for at least one city from every state.

How much energy does a solar panel produce. We therefore need to know during the year the maximum and minimum altitude of the sun at midday in order to discover how many degrees our panels have to be tilted. Thus the output for each solar panel in your array would. This will result in an output similar to north west facing panels.

If you are trying to install solar panels on a steep roof it may not be possible to place panels at the optimal tilt with traditional racking systems. More often than not solar panels are seen placed at angles on rooftops and there s a really good reason for that. Skip to 12 15 to hear rex and patrick discuss the main solar solutions for different kinds of flat roofing.