The solar panel tilt

The tilt of the solar panels on your roof should depend on how your roof lines up with the sun.  The panel should face the middle of the sun's path to collect the most power throughout the day. The middle of the sun's path is an angle from horizontal equal to the latitude. The rule generally followed for the tilt of the solar panels in the northern hemisphere is to position the solar panels of latitude plus or minus 10 degrees.

Variations of 10 degrees in either way will not seriously affect the total annual collection of the system. Winter system performance, however, can be optimized with the solar panels at a tilt of latitude plus 10 degrees, because less energy collection time is available during this period and also because heat loss is greater as a result of lower ambient temperatures. Solar panels will still work in the cold and in the heat though.

Shading and your solar panels

Shading is a very important factor. No more than five percent of the solar panel array should be shaded between 9 am and 3 pm when the greatest solar potential exists. By knowing the altitude and the azimuth of the suns path throughout the year, you can determine if a shading problem might exist for your particular residential solar location.

A solar window

A solar window is actually the plot of the sun's path during the year at a particular latitude. We can derive what is called a Mercator projection from these sun path diagrams, which graphically depicts altitude and azimuth for each month onto a flat map for each variation of latitude. Just install the solar panels on your roof and tilt them toward the sun.

To find out what solar panels are right for you, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much a system will cost, and how much you can save over the next 20 years.

For more information relating to going solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for more handy guides and articles.