I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels.
Installing solar on a ne facing roof.
As an example a roof facing due south in brisbane will receive almost as much sunlight as a north facing roof in hobart.
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.
If you live in a tropical area your solar panels will be to the north or to the south of the sun depending on the season.
For years homeowners who bought solar panels were advised to mount them on the roof facing south.
Not all roofs make ideal candidates for solar panels so don t try to force the issue if things are not conducive to an array.
South or west facing panels.
Adequate support for the array and any foot traffic.
That captures the most solar energy over the course of the day which benefits the homeowner but.
Not discussed here is the case for going solar in the tropics e g.
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 elements you need in place are.
Even though it s true that north facing roofs aren t ideal for solar you still have options.
Not having a south facing roof is not a deal breaker however.
3 setting up roof solar panels on a roof unfit for purpose.
That meant installing solar tiles on the north south east and west facing roof surfaces.
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.
For north american solar systems facing directly south an azimuth of 180 degrees is ideal.
But in the far north the difference is not so great and in townsville south facing solar panels will only produce around 17 less electricity in total than north facing ones.
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.
In sydney south facing solar panels will typically produce around 28 less energy than north facing panels and the steeper the roof the less electricity they will produce.
Many roofs are multi faceted and if your roof is mostly west and east facing you re likely to only see a 10 20 percent reduction in the amount of energy you re generating.
Darwin and far north queensland.