Pv Panels On North Facing Roof

Even if you have a north facing roof you still have some solar options.

Pv panels on 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. 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. 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. If your property faces east or west panels can still generate good yields.

Generally this isn t the best solution since these panels still won t yield much energy. Around the world solar developers are turning array designs on their head and choosing to go east west instead. If your roof faces east west rather than north south you have a few options. One solution is to compensate by increasing the solar collector area either using more panels or larger collectors.

The chart below will give you an idea of how the solar pv production reduces depending on your roof orientation and tilt. Following on from a recent feature in pv tech power volume 14 here are the five key. It is possible to have solar panels installed on a northwest facing roof but the amount of energy that you generate will be around 1 3rd of what you would generate facing south. They produce slightly more electricity during the afternoon and slightly less in the morning.

While it is technically possible to install solar panels on the north side of your roof they need to be mounted so that they oppose the roof s slant in order to generate electricity. It s possible to mount solar panels so that they oppose the slant of your roof though this solution may not be as aesthetically pleasing as they won t sit flush. Solar panels that face north west will produce around 5 less electricity overall than north facing panels. What if your panels don t face north.

South facing panels tilted at 30 need heavy concrete ballasts to prevent winds blowing the modules over or off the roof fixing directly to the roof is rare as this usually causes waterproofing damage. This means that they won t sit flush with your roof and will still produce relatively little electricity. Solar panels facing east or west won t get as much light as those on a southern facing roof.