Solar Panels On East Facing Roof

If your roof faces east west rather than north south you have a few options.

Solar panels on east facing roof.

Placing some solar panels facing east and some facing west will result in the total amount of electricity produced being around 12 less than if all the modules were placed facing north. East and west orientation. That goes double if you get any fog or mist in the morning which will reduce the efficiency of the east facing panels. 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.

This arrangement is often called and east west split and has the advantage of producing a more constant output of electricity during. At higher pitches the difference increases. An example of a south west facing roof. One solution is to compensate by increasing the solar collector area either using more panels or larger collectors.

We assumed a 40 elevation for the roof. Just make sure there s no obstructions that would cause shade on the panels and you re golden. 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. Cleve hill solar park.

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. However the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner. I get asked this a lot and there isn t really a simple answer. 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.

At lower pitches say 30 the east west facing panels perform slightly closer to south. 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 arrays that are situated east west can squeeze in more rows and panels and therefore a greater generation capacity than their south or north facing cousins. Can solar panels be fitted if your roof is east west facing.

I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels. 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. Solar panels facing east or west won t get as much light as those on a southern facing roof.