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.

Rules of thumb for designing solar panel power system.

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 usually equates as a fixed mounting to an alignment of around latitude or 15 degrees. Often when designing a power system people are tempted to start at the generation source i e. 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.

Historical design rules varied greatly by latitude. Here in seattle that would mean the panels face due south and they are mounted at an angle of inclination of 47 5. In summer you can leave them up high and the longer daylight hours will make up for not optimizing tilt. 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.

Historically modules were tilted at or near the latitude of the project s location. The optimum performance of a photovoltaic panel is obtained when it s correctly aligned to the sun when the sun is directly overhead. This is fine if you are going for a top down system and will only load to the available capacity. This would mean a 25 tilt in miami a 35 tilt in raleigh north carolina and a 45 tilt in seattle.