Putting A Solar Panel Directly Towards The Sun

For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south.

Putting a solar panel directly towards the sun.

For that reason the ideal angle is never fixed. For home solar just putting panels on the roof makes much more sense both. So we ll focus on the top facing surfaces. While the angle of your solar panels is important a more important factor in your energy production is going to be the direction your panels face.

Roof trunk and hood. Calculating the ideal angle for your solar panels is not that difficult. In this case a fixed roof mount is the easiest and most cost effective option. Technology exists to track the sun along both a horizontal and vertical path but these kinds of tracking require ground mounted tables of panels which means concrete footings 11 foot tall poles and lots of extra structure to hold and maneuver the panels.

Solar panels give the highest energy output when they are directly facing the sun. To get the most sun reaching the panel throughout the day you need to determine what direction the panels should. The placement and orientation of solar panels is just as important as which type of solar panel is used in a given situation. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere.

The sun moves across the sky and will be low or high depending on the time of the day and the season. Most residential rooftops tend to be sloped close enough to this optimal mounting angle that they don t need any additional tilt adjustments. Sure they ll get some energy but not enough to justify the cost. As a general rule of thumb keep in mind that the panels need to be more vertical during winter to face the lower sun directly and more tilted towards the ground during summer to face the higher sun.

Ensuring that solar panels face the correct direction and have an appropriate tilt will help ensure that they produce maximum energy as they are exposed to the highest.