Here is a photo I took of a house around the corner from me.
As you can see, it has solar panels on 2 separate roof areas. In solar jargon, you would say there are 2 “strings” of solar panels.
The main string is facing North, which is the best roof orientation for solar panels. These panels should get the optimum amount of sun throughout the day.
The smaller string is facing East. These panels will get 15-20% less sunlight than the panels facing North.
Obviously the installer could not fit all the panels on the North facing roof. Fair enough.
If your home will require solar panels on multiple roof areas, which face different directions, then you should use a special type of inverter to ensure that you still get good system performance. [Read more…]
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