Rules Of Thumb For Designing Solar Panel Power System

The rules of thumb in the solar industry are that the panels should face toward the equator and be mounted at an angle of inclination angle between the ground and the panel equal to the degree latitude of the installation site.

Rules of thumb for designing solar panel power system.

Of course you should tilt the panels for maximum power on home systems and that means 15 degrees higher than latitude in winter 15 degrees lower in summer. In summer you can leave them up high and the longer daylight hours will make up for not optimizing tilt. Often when designing a power system people are tempted to start at the generation source i e. This would mean a 25 tilt in miami a 35 tilt in raleigh north carolina and a 45 tilt in seattle.

Historical design rules varied greatly by latitude. The optimum performance of a photovoltaic panel is obtained when it s correctly aligned to the sun when the sun is directly overhead. Historically modules were tilted at or near the latitude of the project s location. This is fine if you are going for a top down system and will only load to the available capacity.

When designing a system the first things a professional designer will consider will be the sunlight levels for your area insolation and your total power requirement. This orientation optimizes for the sun angles throughout the year pointing the modules as close as possible to the sun s average position in the sky. To determine how many solar panels you can actually use it is important that you know how much roof space you have. A small pv system could reduce your electricity needs enough to move you to a different tier lowering your rates and saving you a large amount of money.