In the usa solar panels work best if they face due south but there may be several good reasons to choose east or west facing solar panels instead.
Best face for solar panels.
The opposite direction should be used in the southern hemisphere.
Therefore directions like southwest or southeast are fine.
The more sunlight reaches your solar panels the more electricity you can generate and the more money you ll be able to save on your electric bill.
The best direction for solar panels is south or west for countries in the northern hemisphere such as the u s a.
The traditional advice is to position solar panels to be south facing.
So in summer you are generating more power when you need it.
Really it depends on how you use energy.
In general there s one big rule.
This is because for those of us living in the northern hemisphere the sun is always along the southern part of the sky as we complete our yearly orbit around it.
For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south.
Between 3 pm and 6 pm the east west system gives you more power.
It is at this location that your panels will receive the maximum sunlight throughout the day.
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Panels facing non optimal directions may have up to 15 reduced output.
Solar panels should face south for any home in america to obtain maximum power generation.
If your roof does not face the right direction then surface mounted panels or pole mounted panels may be your best bet.
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.
Or elsewhere in the northern hemisphere the best direction for solar panels to face is true south though there is an exception.
However solar panels can be orientated on any roof that faces south of either east or west.
If you re in the u s.
This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere.
Some new research is favoring west over the traditional south for american homes.
While this is not a bad direction it is often possible to get a very small boost by having them face slightly away from due north.
So which orientation is best to install your solar.
For those who are not part of a tou model with their utility company the direction that you want to face your solar panels is south.
Because the e w system has 13 panels oriented slightly closer to north we see it outperforming only in the afternoon.
This is so that you can expose your solar panels to as much light as possible to optimize their energy production.