Photovoltaic Roof East Facing Los Angeles

The angle at which an array is tilted off its surface mounting is known as the array tilt angle.

Photovoltaic roof east facing los angeles. Regardless of roof angle solar power provides financial returns. Three main areas were addressed in the execution of this research. If your roof faces east west rather than north south you have a few options. Energy information administration in 2018 the average monthly electricity consumption for a home in the united states was 914 kwh per month or about 30 5 kwh per day and 11 000 kwh per year.

But every home is unique and could use more or less power than the average home. If you you re using a flat mounting surface e g. You also can mount solar panels on roofs that face east or west on the roof of another building like a barn or garage or on the ground. Looking at data from six cities boston los angeles new york chicago philadelphia and washington d c we estimated the production levels generated at various tilt angles.

For example if you live in los angeles whose latitude is 34 degrees north you d want to tilt your array about 34 degrees up from the ground for best results. According to the u s. Why orientation matters with rooftop solar in general solar panels that are oriented directly east or directly west will produce about 20 percent less electricity than if they were facing south. The angle is based on your latitude minus 15 degrees.

Following on from a recent feature in pv tech power volume 14 here are the five key. One solution is to compensate by increasing the solar collector area either using more panels or larger collectors. Increase the south facing tilt to 15 and south facing becomes 21 better. Photovoltaic pv potential for solar world sw260 monocrystalline panels on residential rooftops within the study area.

Solar panels facing east or west won t get as much light as those on a southern facing roof. For example with this logic in the bay area near san francisco you would want to tilt solar panels at 22 or 23 degrees. A solar panel tilt of 19 degrees will work best in los angeles. I did a quick check using nrel s pvwatts tool and it looks like in placentia ca there s about a 10 difference in favor of flat south facing panels over east facing panels installed on a 30 pitched roof.

The regulations in 57 12 03 and 57 138 04 of the los angeles fire code shall be complied with. A ground mount or carport you ll. Around the world solar developers are turning array designs on their head and choosing to go east west instead. How many solar panels do i need for 1 000 kwh per month.