Roof Placement And Orientation Can Effect Solar Panel Savings

Once we have concluded how much electricity you’ll want your solar power system to generate, the next factor is design. Designing your solar panel unit is a critical step; it will be the main price variable of the solar energy and can influence the lifetime of your system.  Also, and essentially, what your return on investment will be.  Sometimes the panel is sized too big, sometimes the panel is sized too small.  Sometimes the panel is the wrong angle or even the wrong direction.  Sometimes the panel is made with the wrong components.  All of these forces can all have either a positive or negative impact on your solar panel purchasing experience.  We’ll examine how your solar panels can be adapted on your home’s rooftop to achieve your electricity demands.

The direction you decide to install your solar panel system can play an important part in optimizing your system by the amount of energy that is captured from the sun's rays. South is the ideal orientation for your rooftop. A south-facing panel orientation shows your panels to as much sunlight as possible.  Consider that in Southern California, the sun is briefly just about straight overhead in summer, but the rest of the year it stays in the Southern sky.  Because of this, solar electricity from the sun will hit the individual solar cells with the most intensity when panels are facing South.  Panels facing North, particularly on a steeply sloped roof, could get no direct sunlight for most of the year.  There are situations where panels cannot be installed on a south-facing roof due to space limitations and other factors.  We will continue on this important part in our next paragraphs.

Roof Area Equals Possibility

Look at your roof, find the measurements of it.  Total free roof space is also important. Your home may have a great south-facing roof, but if the available area is too small to hold the needed solar panels to install the system you need, then a large enough system may not be feasible. This is where the quality and efficiency of the solar panels used comes into play. Lower-quality panels often offered by big-name national solar companies are typically low- wattage, which means you’ll need to acquire many panels. Baker carries both the larges (less expense) and smaller (more expense) solar panel types.  It is not recommended to use solar shingles (a solar roof) as the technology has not been around long enough to be reliable.

Ground Mounted Solar Panels Can Open Up An Alternative

And yet, there is still another option for people without the kind of roof space needed, it’s called a ground-mount solar panel system.  It is a system where the racking system that holds the solar cells and inverters is positioned on the ground or anywhere property can help to find sunlight.  In this case, the racking system can be oriented for maximum solar photovoltaic exposure to the sun.  Southern facing, accurate angle, away from shade, and even adjustable can be helpful to maximize the power potential.  These characteristics of installation are usually the best option when the homeowner’s rooftop is not optimal for solar panels.  Ground-based mounts are still grid-tied solar, the same as a rooftop solar project, including the corresponding solar incentives, net metering, and solar rebates.  Ground mounted systems do not work well for a solar pool heater or solar water heater due to the power required to pump the water through the pipelines.

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