Solar Panel Angle For Winter

Solar panels should always face true south in the northern hemisphere north in the southern hemisphere tilted from the hoizontal at a degree equal to your latitude plus 15 degrees in winter or minus 15 degrees in summer.

Solar panel angle for winter.

Subtract 15 degrees from the latitude at your location during summer and add 15 degrees to your latitude during winter. To get maximum energy efficiency during the winter solstice the solar panels in chicago must face south and be tilted 65 90 25. In general a steeper slope is preferable during the summer as the sun will be higher in the sky. The optimum tilt angle is calculated by adding 15 degrees to your latitude during winter and subtracting 15 degrees from your latitude during summer.

For instance in the san francisco bay area the best solar panel tilt angle is between 22 23 degrees. To lean toward more production in the summer tilt your panels at your latitude minus 10 15. However installing panels at angles of around 15 degrees or less can backfire as snow won t easily fall off of your array. In this way at noon the panels will be perfectly perpendicular to the sun s rays.

Solar panel lifespan guide are solar trackers helpful. During winter the sun is lower and to catch more of its light the best solar panel angle would be more tilted. An additional 3 5 though can be gained by evaluating this more carefully. For instance if your latitude is 34 the optimum tilt angle for your solar panels during winter will be 34 15 49.

If you want to improve your winter performance you would angle your photovoltaic panels towards the winter months in order to get the best performance at that time of year. To lean toward more production in the winter tilt your panels at your latitude plus 10 15. If you have the opportunity to adjust your photovoltaic panels throughout the year you will benefit from having the optimum performance from your solar system all of the time. To optimize overall production year round tilt your panels at your latitude.

For a precise method use the second formula on this page to calculate tilt angle. This is about 10 more or less from the readings obtained using the first method. The same latitude of 35 would have a tilt angle of 59 6 for winter and 7 1 for summer. In the spring summer and autumn the efficiency is lower 74 75 in spring autumn and 68 74 in summer because in these seasons the sun travels a larger area of the sky and a fixed panel can t capture as much of it.

In winter a panel fixed at the winter angle will be relatively efficient capturing 81 to 88 percent of the energy compared to optimum tracking. The summer optimum tilt angle on the other hand will be 34 15 19.