Best Direction For Solar Panels

Therefore directions like southwest or southeast are fine.

Best direction for solar panels.

There is a difference. 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. If your roof does not face the right direction then surface mounted panels or pole mounted panels may be your best bet. Now a compass tells you magnetic north and south but it does not show you true north and south.

However solar panels can be orientated on any roof that faces south of either east or west. This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere. The rule is that if you live in the southern hemisphere you should point your panels true north and if you live in the northern hemisphere you should point them true south. It is at this location that your panels will receive the maximum sunlight throughout the day.

This being the case the general best practice to date has always been to position solar panels facing south in order to capture the maximum amount of sunlight overall. This is so that you can expose your solar panels to as much light as possible to optimize their energy production. Solar panels should face south for any home in america to obtain maximum power generation. For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south.