Size and Angle Roof for Solar Panels
What is the best angle for my solar panels?
There are many factors that affect the performance of your solar energy system, including how sunny it is where you live, which way your house faces, and even the pitch of your roof.
Ideally, a fixed, roof-mounted solar energy system should be at an angle that is equal to the latitude of the location where it is installed. However, pitch angles between 30 and 45 degrees will work well in most situations. Overall, the angle of your rooftop has less impact on solar panel performance than the direction your roof faces.
Why angle matters with rooftop solar
Just like other variables that affect production, the financial impact of the slight decreases in solar productivity related to your roof’s slope, depends on electricity prices in your specific market. To give you an example, EnergySage compared data from two states (New York and Washington, D.C.) and estimated the production levels of solar panels tilted at various angles. What we found was consistent with our investigations into the effects of other variables:
Regardless of where you live or the tilt of your roof, adopting solar power provides significant savings.
The angle of your roof actually has less impact on solar panel performance than the direction your solar energy system faces.
Optimal electricity production occurs when solar panels face south at a tilt equal to 30°. However, even if you lower the tilt of your roof all the way down to 5°, production only decreases by about 10 percent.