If you have a north facing roof you might think that solar just isn t going to work for your property.
Pv solar panels north facing roof.
As an example a roof facing due south in brisbane will receive almost as much sunlight as a north facing roof in hobart.
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.
In sydney south facing solar panels will typically produce around 28 less energy than north facing panels and the steeper the roof the less electricity they will produce.
We are looking at installing a 5kw system lg neon 2 panels and fornius inverter on a double storey house and had initially thought of splitting the panels between our north east and west facing roofs so that we got production over most of the day 8 panels north 4 east and 4 west.
If you live in a tropical area your solar panels will be to the north or to the south of the sun depending on the season.
But in the far north the difference is not so great and in townsville south facing solar panels will only produce around 17 less electricity in total than north facing ones.
Don t let them install solar panels on a north 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.
Darwin and far north queensland.
Well when it comes to solar panels west is second best.
But what if you don t have a suitable south facing roof.
Cleve hill solar park.
Not discussed here is the case for going solar in the tropics e g.
In the northern hemisphere the sun crosses the sky a little to the south which means putting solar panels on a south facing roof is the best way for homeowners to capture the most solar energy.
Even though it s true that north facing roofs aren t ideal for solar you still have options.
While you will have some challenges to work around there are several alternatives available that will let you go solar despite having a non optimal roof.
If you look back to systems that were built a few years ago you would typically find them facing south says david wedepohl director of communications and markets at the german solar industry association bsw.
I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels.
Other solar power posts you may like.
Of course you cannot install east west facing solar panels on your roof if it does not already slant in those directions.
The direction that your roof faces also referred to as the azimuth angle is the primary factor determining how much sunshine your solar panels will see over the course of the day.
Solar panels are most effective when installed on south facing roofs.
