In this article we want to take your knowledge a little further. It’s great that you’ve decided to do your part in saving our planet, and very soon you will be on your way to saving money as well. One area where some people need help though is with making the most out of their home solar energy solution.

For most, making the most out of each solar panel they install is as simple as ensuring they are installed the right way, and faced to collect the most energy year-round.

Facing Solar Panels to Produce the Most Energy

The direction to face your solar panels isn’t difficult to determine. If you’re in the northern hemisphere then you want your panels to face south. If you’re in the southern hemisphere you want your panels to face north. This simple idea will ensure that your panels collect solar energy as the sun makes its way from east to west.

This isn’t the only thing to be considered when deciding where to install your panels though. You also need to consider the tilt of your panels. Your new solar panels will produce the most energy when they the sun is hitting them at a 90 degree angle. To make the most out of your solar panels you need to tilt them so that they collect sunlight at 90 degrees for as much of the days as possible.

Tilting Your Solar Panels to a 90% Angle to the Sun Will Ensure You Make the Most of Your Solar Panels

Again there is a simple way to do this. If you take your latitude, you have the ideal angle for your panels. If you are building the panels so that you will be able to adjust the tilt, remember to add 15 degrees in the summer and subtract 15 degrees in the winter.

To add some clarity here let’s use a quick example.

If you lived in Miami (approximately 25 degree north latitude) you would want to face your panels south with a tilt of 25 degrees. If you wanted to make the most out of the sun throughout the year, you would also want the ability to tilt the panels by 15 degrees in the summer and 15 degrees the other way in the winter.

On the other hand if you lived in the middle of Montana, you would want to start with a 46 degree tilt to your panels.

As a final note here: If you are mounting your panels so that they will be stationary, you’re likely better off adjusting the tilt for Winter. This tends to be the time of year that the least amount of energy is collected, and tilting them specifically for that season will ensure that your system collects as much in the colder months as it did in the summer.