Which Way Should My House Face For Solar Panels

If your roof faces east west rather than north south you have a few options.

Which way should my house face for solar panels.

Solar south or geographic south. The earth has a fluid outer core made of iron and nickel which pulls the needle of your compass slightly away from true south. Solar panels convert light into dc electricity. The following is a guest post by dr.

Which way should my solar panels be facing. Solar panels facing east or west won t get as much light as those on a northern facing roof. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south. 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.

Does my house have to face south for solar to work. Since the majority of solar panel owners keep their system on the grid we can split this grouping into simply those who pay for energy based on a tou payment. The direction that your solar panels face is ultimately dependent on whether or not your system is connected through net energy metering nem and under a time of use tou payment structure. Five or six years ago the question of which direction solar panels should face was easy.

The direction solar panels should face is true south a k a. 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. The pull or magnetic declination will vary in direction and strength depending on your location. The sun doesn t have to be beaming directly on the panels at the perfect angle.

So what direction should solar panels face. Joshua rhodes a postdoctoral research fellow in the webber energy group and the energy institute at the university. We can install panels on south east or west facing roofs. Because high feed in tariffs were available they simply had to have an orientation facing north in order to maximise the amount of electricity they produced and so earn the most feed in.

The short answer is no. 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. Apart from how much power each panel can produce how many panels you ll need what size and how well they ll work with your rooftop you ll also want to consider the best direction for solar panels to face. North is the only direction that we don t want to put panels on.

When you re thinking about getting solar panels to adorn your rooftop and power your home there s a lot to consider. Orientation of the panels. Net energy metering and time of use. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere.

It is at this location that your panels will receive the maximum sunlight throughout the day.