If you live in the southern hemisphere face them north.
Optimal angle for solar panels pennsylvania.
To get the best out of your photovoltaic panels you need to angle them towards the sun.
The optimum angle varies throughout the year depending on the seasons and your location and this calculator shows the difference in sun.
Since solar panels are more productive when the sun s rays are perpendicular to their surfaces the certainly best orientation is the one directly true south azimuth angle 180.
On the contrary in the countries of the southern hemisphere such as south africa and australia the best orientation is true north.
Whatever your latitude is you can subtract 15 from it to calculate the angle for summer.
The summer optimum tilt angle on the other hand will be 34 15 19.
True south or the geographic south will yield the best results overall.
Subtract 15 degrees from the latitude at your location during summer and add 15 degrees to your latitude during winter.
That s because you ll get way more sunlight hitting the roof thereby converting into way more energy.
For a precise method use the second formula on this page to calculate tilt angle.
Similarly you can calculate the angle for winter by adding 15.
For instance if your latitude is 34 the optimum tilt angle for your solar panels during winter will be 34 15 49.
A solar payback period is the amount of time it takes for property owners who install solar panels to recover their initial investment through electricity savings.
Orientation of the panels.
There are two methods for calculating the tilt angle for solar panels.
If you live in the northern hemisphere face them south.
There s a simple rule of thumb for calculating the best tilt angle for fixed mount solar panels.
While the angle of your solar panels is important a more important factor in your energy production is going to be the direction your panels face.
For the best results solar panels should be oriented towards the south.
This solar angle calculator tells you the optimum angle to get the best out of your system.
The optimum tilt angle is calculated by adding 15 degrees to your latitude during winter and subtracting 15 degrees from your latitude during summer.
If your latitude is below 25 use the latitude times 0 87.
This is because the sun is always in the southern half of the sky in the northern hemisphere.
Both of these angles require latitude degrees.
In pennsylvania the average solar payback period is 10 66 years.
If your latitude is between 25 and 50 use the latitude times 0 76 plus 3 1 degrees.
Use one of these formulas to find the best angle from the horizontal at which the panel should be tilted.
Regardless of the exact cost of installation there are many affordable financing options for solar panel systems.