Solar Panels North West Facing Roof

Depending on your location and roof pitch you re going to lose somewhere between 10 20 efficiency as a result of not having panels facing in a due north direction.

Solar panels north west facing roof.

I get asked this a lot and there isn t really a simple answer. Solar panels that face north west will produce around 5 less electricity overall than north facing panels. The preference is a north facing roof but there arguments about the benefits of placing panels on a west facing roof. Adding modules on the north side of the roof will not add much bang for the customer s solar buck and would qualify as solar malpractice in my book.

In other words the absolute best you can hope to get is a 12 improvement by moving the panels. It is not worth the expense. If you re roof runs directly through the east west orientation there would be no real difference in the energy generated by the panels and the installer is correct about the energy loss through the additional wiring although. North facing panels on the other hand generally produce much less energy than south facing panels and usually present challenges for homeowners looking.

An ideal south facing roof here is pitched at 7 12 39ish degrees and the north side of that roof will produce less than half as much electricity. Can solar panels be fitted if your roof is east west facing. They produce slightly more electricity during the afternoon and slightly less in the morning. You also can mount solar panels on roofs that face east or west on the roof of another building like a barn or garage or on the ground.

The diagram shows how the sun passes over a house with solar panels on the south and west facing roof surfaces. Let s walk you through an average day august 6th to be exact. However the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner. You either accept that your output will be down to the sort of levels in the table above or you spend a little more money and try to maximise the your output with technology.

Why orientation matters with rooftop solar 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. 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. Their electricity production through the day will be between that of north and facing panels and that of west facing panels. If you don t have a south facing roof east or west facing panels can also be an option you will typically see only a 20 decrease in energy production from a roof facing due east or west.