Let s walk you through an average day august 6th to be exact.
Solar pv panels west facing roof.
That s much better than most people would guess and even an east west facing roof can generate around 80 of the maximum.
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.
We assumed a 40 elevation for the roof.
Of course you cannot install east west facing solar panels on your roof if it does not already slant in those directions.
This table shows you how much energy you can expect to get from almost any combination of solar panel direction and angle in the capital cities compared to the optimum orientation.
Why more solar panels should be facing west not south.
The optimal roof for a solar installation is south facing west is next best with minimal shading from trees or other buildings.
An example of a south west facing roof.
Can solar panels be fitted if your roof is east west facing.
Solar panels last for 30 years so you want to install them on a roof that won t have to be replaced soon.
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.
At lower pitches say 30 the east west facing panels perform slightly closer to south.
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.
The diagram shows how the sun passes over a house with solar panels on the south and west facing roof surfaces.
It should also be relatively new.
Cleve hill solar park.
At higher pitches the difference increases.
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.
I get asked this a lot and there isn t really a simple answer.
For example in brisbane if your panels are facing west 270 and are angled 20 from horizontal you will get 89 of the energy compared to the optimum orentation of north and 30.
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.
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.