Roof Is Facing South West Is It Ok For Solar

1 2014 for years homeowners who bought solar panels were advised to mount them on the roof facing south.

Roof is facing south west is it ok for solar.

The preference is a north facing roof but there arguments about the benefits of placing panels on a west facing 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. Of course you cannot install east west facing solar panels on your roof if it does not already slant in those directions. 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.

The steeper the roof the smoother the output of the system will be. Even with this decrease in performance solar panels will produce enough electricity to save you hundreds of dollars a year. Is my roof suitable for pv solar panels. But if you don t have a south facing roof with enough space that s ok.

South facing roofs usually get the most sunlight so most installers will recommend putting the panels there. To get an accurate picture of generation potential savings and income you would need a site assessment from accredited installers. 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. An east west split can normally have a different number of modules facing in each direction.

Even if your roof doesn t face directly south you can still produce quite a bit of electricity. 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. 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 it should be minimal. So if a household uses more electricity in the afternoon more solar panels can be installed facing west.

North facing panels on the other hand generally produce much less energy than south facing panels and usually present challenges for homeowners looking to go solar as panels installed on these roofs will. After 6 pm the south facing roof is no longer receiving direct sunlight.