Solar Panels On East And West Facing Roofs

For homes with roofs that face to the south and that have an appropriate pitch for mounting solar panels installing an efficient home solar system is fairly straight forward because both the roof orientation and angle pitch are optimal for harvesting clean energy from the sun.

Solar panels on east and west facing roofs.

At higher pitches the difference increases. I would be grateful for any thoughts suggestions on the direction to face solar panels. And while there is some indication that facing solar panels to the west can also be. At lower pitches say 30 the east west facing panels perform slightly closer to south.

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. If the east facing panels still produce plenty of energy from the morning and early afternoon sun the west facing panels would likely produce energy from mid morning on. 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.

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. However under the right circumstances it is possible to have an east west split of solar panels on a single inverter input like the diagram above imagine the left hand 3 panels facing west and the right hand 3 panels facing east and still have almost the same performance as if they were on separate strings attached to a two seperate. I get asked this a lot and there isn t really a simple answer. 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.

We assumed a 40 elevation for the roof. Following on from a recent feature in pv tech power volume 14 here are the five key. It really depends on your home and your roof but adding panels to an unshaded west facing roof can be a great move. However the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner.

An example of a south west facing roof. Can solar panels be fitted if your roof is east west facing.