Solar Panel Angle Latitude

The optimum tilt angle is calculated by adding 15 degrees to your latitude during winter and subtracting 15 degrees from your latitude during summer.

Solar panel angle latitude.

These angles will give you the best overall output over the course of the year if you re going for a fixed installation. Tilt the panels to your latitude minus 15. Latitude and longitude can be in deg min sec or decimal degrees entered in the deg field. Tilt the panels to your latitude plus 15.

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. If you are able to adjust the angle of your solar panels a few times per year here is the adjustment schedule we recommend. Note that for latitudes greater than 72 north or less than 72 south accuracy may be lower due in part to the effects of atmospheric refraction. On the contrary in the countries of the southern hemisphere such as south africa and australia the best orientation is true north.

The summer optimum tilt angle on the other hand will be 34 15 19. Since solar panels are more productive when the sun s rays are perpendicular to their surfaces the certainly best orientation is the one directly true south azimuth angle 180. It turns out that you can do better than this about 4 better. Both of these angles require latitude degrees.

For instance if your latitude is 34 the optimum tilt angle for your solar panels during winter will be 34 15 49. For los angeles a solar panel tilt of 19 degrees works the best. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south. Similarly you can calculate the angle for winter by adding 15.

This variation is a sinusoidal with the average value being the same as the latitude degrees. For instance in the san francisco bay area the best solar panel tilt angle is between 22 23 degrees. The sun s noon angle will vary 23 5 degrees throughout the year being at an angle of 90 latitude at the equinox mar 21 and sept 21 and 23 5 higher than this at the summer solstice jun 21 and 23 5 lower at winter solstice dec 21. There are two methods for calculating the tilt angle for solar panels.

Cosine of solar zenith angle is unitless. Books and articles on solar energy often give the advice that the tilt should be equal to your latitude plus 15 degrees in winter or minus 15 degrees in summer. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere. Find the best angle for optimizing solar collection during winter when solar energy is most scarce by multiplying your latitude by 0 89 and then adding 24 degrees.

For instance if your latitude. Tilt the panels to your latitude. It is simplest to mount your solar panels at a fixed tilt and just leave them there.