Yes, here in the middle of the US, the sun migrates South for the winter.
5k worth of used Trina panels. 2.25k facing East, 3k facing South. Arranged the panels in this manner to preserve as much power as possible for nighttime use. Here's the 411.
On the top graph, you can see a shadow around 9:30 and things remain fairly flat as the East facing panels do their thing. Then around 11:30, all 9 East panels get full sun. Around 12:30, the sun starts clearing the trees lining the East property line and hitting the South facing panels. Things do downhill from there as trees on the West property line come into play. All in all, the system can generate ~20kwh daily, which is considerably more than the shop usually consumes. All is good.
The sun migrates South for the winter.
Same time frame. With the sun further South, we now have to deal with the added shadows of trees on the Southern property line, in addition to trees both on the East and West. On a sunny day it generates <10kwh.
Guess the easy solution would be to cut down some trees, but hey, I like trees. Big mature oaks, maples, pecan ... the animals like em' too. I'll have another pallet of panels and additional solar charge controller in a few weeks and make up the difference.
Just an FYI for anyone else that may be 'shadow challenged'.
5k worth of used Trina panels. 2.25k facing East, 3k facing South. Arranged the panels in this manner to preserve as much power as possible for nighttime use. Here's the 411.
On the top graph, you can see a shadow around 9:30 and things remain fairly flat as the East facing panels do their thing. Then around 11:30, all 9 East panels get full sun. Around 12:30, the sun starts clearing the trees lining the East property line and hitting the South facing panels. Things do downhill from there as trees on the West property line come into play. All in all, the system can generate ~20kwh daily, which is considerably more than the shop usually consumes. All is good.
The sun migrates South for the winter.
Same time frame. With the sun further South, we now have to deal with the added shadows of trees on the Southern property line, in addition to trees both on the East and West. On a sunny day it generates <10kwh.
Guess the easy solution would be to cut down some trees, but hey, I like trees. Big mature oaks, maples, pecan ... the animals like em' too. I'll have another pallet of panels and additional solar charge controller in a few weeks and make up the difference.
Just an FYI for anyone else that may be 'shadow challenged'.
