Ideal Solar Roof Angle

The optimum angle varies throughout the year depending on the seasons and your location and this calculator shows the difference in sun height on a month by month basis.

Ideal solar roof angle.

Overall the angle of your rooftop has less impact on solar panel performance than the direction your roof faces. The ideal roof angle for power generation is about 30 degrees but roofs that are too steep make installation difficult while flat roofs mean that you can set the panels at just the right angle but you ll be paying extra for the required racking. These angles will give you the best overall output over the course of the year if you re going for a fixed installation. In case the roof is very steep you may not be able to get the most optimal tilt angle for the panel especially if it is lower than the angle of the roof.

However pitch angles between 30 and 45 degrees will work well in most situations. In summary here are the roof factors that affect your home solar panel performance. On the contrary in the countries of the southern hemisphere such as south africa and australia the best orientation is true north. 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.

To lean toward more production in the summer tilt your panels at your latitude minus 10 15. Best solar panel angle by zip code. Ideally a fixed roof mounted solar energy system should be at an angle that is equal to the latitude of the location where it is installed. At this level the solar panel can lie flat on the roof and get enough sunlight to produce enough electricity.

To put this another way you can tilt a roof angle about 45 degrees away from the optimal angle the perpendicular angle to the sun without significantly affecting light transmission. Significant here means less than an 8 change. To optimize overall production year round tilt your panels at your latitude. Most roofs have an inclination of 30 to 40 degrees.

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 winter tilt your panels at your latitude plus 10 15. For los angeles a solar panel tilt of 19 degrees works the best.