Solar Panels East West Roof

It really depends on your home and your roof but adding panels to an unshaded west facing roof can be a great move.

Solar panels east west roof.

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 an east west split of solar panels is desired where some panels are facing east and some facing west then normally those panels would be placed on separate strings and a two input inverter would be used. Of course you cannot install east west facing solar panels on your roof if it does not already slant in those directions. Even with this decrease in performance solar panels will produce enough electricity to save you hundreds of dollars a year.

Why orientation matters with rooftop solar. In theory the east facing panels will catch the early morning sun all the way up till noon then the west facing panels will catch the sun from noon till dusk. Solar panels installed on a roof facing southwest or southeast will generally produce about 8 less power than the same panels in the same climate on a south facing roof. Time of use tariff schedule as displayed on the reposit first monitoring app.

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 the economics of installing solar panels on a roof that does not face the south still usually stack up for the homeowner. 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. The key factor for me that will allow this to work is my roof pitch.

Afternoon peak prices are higher than shoulder or off peak prices at other times. I know this setup is not preferred but i am limited on room. If your panels are west facing you will be producing more power right during the expensive peak times than you would if the panels were east facing. This is a result of the smoothing of the array s.