[Gaffer]

Depending on the latitude of where I was at, I’d ideally want my home to be oriented so that where the panels were mounted would ‘catch sun’ all day long (or most of it).

Every home I’ve owned had the longwise part oriented East West so the sun would hit at least one part of the roof all day long while the sun shined.

The problem with that is that depending on the latitude whether the sunlight could hit the north side of the house. Mildew and other non-sunlight problems could ensue. I suppose you could orient the house intercardinally, however.

[PUGACHEV]

I thought that solar panels mounted on the north slope of a roof would be useless, but I was wrong. Our home is oriented east-west, with a southern and northern roof exposure and a 15 degree slope. Our solar system includes a monitor which reports the daily production from each of our 29 panels. The panels on the northern slope make a significant contribution, producing about 2/3 to 1/2 of the kWh the panels on the southern slope do, depending on the season. The solar contractor had access to some type of satellite data which told him exactly how much sunlight our roof received, and his estimate of what the system would produce month by month was amazingly accurate, if a little understated.

The panels we have are both light and tough. The workers carried them to the roof two at a time over their shoulder with one arm, using the other arm to cling to the ladder, and we have been through two hailstorms without damage, including one storm which dropped marble sized ice balls and which mowed down he 4ft corn stalks in our garden.