Solar Panels On East And West Facing Roofs

However under the right circumstances it is possible to have an east west split of solar panels on a single inverter input like the diagram above imagine the left hand 3 panels facing west and the right hand 3 panels facing east and still have almost the same performance as if they were on separate strings attached to a two seperate inverter inputs.

Solar panels on east and west facing roofs.

If you look back to systems that were built a few years ago you would typically find them facing south says david wedepohl director of communications and markets at the german solar industry association bsw. Solar panels should face south for any home in america to obtain maximum power generation. In winter when the sun is at an angle less than the pitch of the roof the panels will receive no sunlight. Technically east facing panels can get as much sun as west facing ones as long as there are no other issues like morning fog or clouds or shade.

And while there is some indication that facing solar panels to the west can also be quite effective for the most part those with east and west facing roofs face a challenge in installing a solar array that will. Of course you cannot install east west facing solar panels on your roof if it does not already slant in those directions. With east or west facing panels the sun will be behind the roof for half the day. However solar panels can be orientated on any roof that faces south of either east or west.

If you went with a professional solar installer they probably had a good reason to install panels facing east rather than west. Therefore directions like southwest or southeast are fine.