Shade hitting solar panels is just plain ugly.  For the record, solar panels are happy when there is unobstructed sunlight hitting them.  When there is shade on solar panels, they simply do not operate at optimum efficiency. The hours of sunlight on solar panels is super important.

So, with shading in mind, do everything you can to make sure there is no or as little shade as possible on your solar panels.  Some people who are planning on buying a solar panel system build there future home with shading in mind.  This is a GREAT idea.  If you too are planning on building a home in the future, why not take some time and contact a solar installer and ask them what their opinions are on the best places for solar panels with regards to shade.

One common mistake that homeowners make with regards to solar systems and shadding is they assume they know exactly how the shade effects their property.  This is great that everyone feels they know how sunlight hits their “land” or “house”, but in reality, most of us don’t usually sit outside all day long throughout the year and observe how the sunlight falls down every minute of the day and take notes on it.  There are scientific shadding devices that solar people use that can callculate this instantly, and they are VERY ACCURATE on predicting shadding on a specific part of your house.  All types of lasers and things like that are involved.  So ask your solar installer about conducting a shading analysis prior to installing any type of solar system.

At the end of the day, if you can eliminate just 10% more shade that would otherwise be hitting the PV solar cells, then you will be increasing your energy production by another 10% at the same time.  This will payoff in many thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the solar system.