Will Solar Panels Work On North Facing Roof

Seeing pics of panels on north facing roofs panels in shade and even one system where panels were installed in shade made by an adjacent house all add up to this conclusion.

Will solar panels work on north facing roof.

While you will have some challenges to work around there are several alternatives available that will let you go solar despite having a non optimal roof. Don t let them install solar panels on a north facing roof. The direction that your roof faces also referred to as the azimuth angle is the primary factor determining how much sunshine your solar panels will see over the course of the day. If you have a north facing roof you might think that solar just isn t going to work for your property.

If your property is constructed in such a way that you are only able to face solar panels in a southerly direction then you will lose further capacity as compared to a north facing system. However the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner. 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. Connect with a solar expert to see if you can take advantage of tou billing or whether you d be better off with panels on a south facing roof.

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. State subsidies tend to have an efficiency condition in their terms that would disallow subsidy for north facing panels unless the installer lied when filling out the forms. 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. Other solar power posts you may like.

The table below shows the efficiency of panels at different orientations.