Solar Panels North East Facing Roof
I have a system installed with 16 panels east and 16 panels west.
Solar panels north east facing roof. 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. North facing panels on the other hand generally produce much less energy than south facing panels and usually present challenges for homeowners looking. I get asked this a lot and there isn t really a simple answer. No north facing roof 180w x 32 efficiencies.
If your roof faces east west rather than north south you have a few options. 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. 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. 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.
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. Increase the south facing tilt to 15 and south facing becomes 21 better. As i am in perth. However the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner.
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. Solar panels facing east or west won t get as much light as those on a southern facing roof. I did a quick check using nrel s pvwatts tool and it looks like in placentia ca there s about a 10 difference in favor of flat south facing panels over east facing panels installed on a 30 pitched 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.
The problem i am having is the inverters keep rebooting. 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. Can solar panels be fitted if your roof is east west facing. One solution is to compensate by increasing the solar collector area either using more panels or larger collectors.