Ground array direction

[Supermo26]

I'm interested in hearing some thoughts about a ground mount array. The easiest place to put solar panels in my yard would be a West facing array. It would get later morning sun but take advantage of the long later afternoon sun when the AC is cooling off the house. I'm wondering if I'm wasting my money by not facing them South directly towards the sun?

Putting them on the roof of the house is not an option at this time. The roof is too old and too costly to replace now.

Putting an array across the backyard would allow them to face South but it is a narrower spot and would allow fewer panels. If I moved the shed I could possibly get 18 pannels, but I don't have a good spot for the shed. If I leave the shed, it takes up 12 feet of room that panels could have used.

Maybe relocate the shed and do one south-facing array of 18 panels and one West facing array with 16 panels. I have to keep it lower than 10 feet.

The blue outline is where a South facing array would go. The long fence on the right is where the West facing array would go.

 

[BentleyJ]

To give an example, We have a 12 panel, 2.8kW PV array on the roof facing 171 degrees, not quite due South. The 2nd system, also roof mounted, is a 3kW microinverter set up with 4 panels facing 171 degrees and 7 panels facing 261 degrees. While the 2nd system which is predominately West facing does produce less Energy per day its only 1 to 3kWh less depending on the season. Today they produced almost 17kWh each.
I believe the more important consideration is if you are on Time of Use utility billing and wish to do Peak Load Shaving to offset higher rates. You mentioned late afternoon AC usage so it sounds like a West facing array makes sense for you as long as shading is not a problem when the sun is at lower angles and you can get production late into the evening.