How Lighting & Shading Conditions Affect Solar Panel Efficiency

When you’re thinking of getting solar panels for your home, or you’re not sure whether you need to make adjustments to the solar system you already have, you probably have a lot of questions. One of those is often about lighting and shading conditions, and how they’re going to affect the efficiency of your solar system. Understanding the ways you can make the system more efficient and make the most of the lighting conditions you have is a very important part of a quality solar system. Here’s what to consider.

Does Shading Prevent a Good Solar Outcome?

In some cases, too much shade can mean that your solar system lacks efficiency and worst case solar may not even be a viable option. But a little bit of shading for a short time during the day isn’t necessarily going to mean that your system doesn’t work as designed. It’s always better to position it where there’s more sun to get the maximum benefit, but there are times when that’s just not realistic. If that’s the reality where you live, it’s important to take full advantage of the non-shady areas and times and even consider module level electronics like Micro Inverters or Panel Optimisers which provide systems with greater tolerance to shade. That way you make your solar system as efficient as possible, and you can still have your panels located where you want them to be. 

How Does Shading of Trees and Buildings Affect System Performance?

A system that’s getting maximum levels of sunlight will generally always perform better than a system that’s not getting as much sunlight. But the shading of trees may not be as significant of a problem as the shading caused by a building. Trees generally provide a more broken or dappled level of shade, where buildings provide more solid levels of shading that are closer to complete blockages of the sunlight. Some trees can also provide this, but it’s not as common. System performance can definitely be affected by anything that blocks sunlight for a period of time, and the longer the length of the blockage the bigger the overall effect on the system. 

What is a Shading Analysis?

A shade analysis can help you see how much the shade in a particular area is going to affect the efficiency of your potential solar system. You can also have an analysis done of your current system, to see if there are ways to make it more efficient. Sometimes changing the angle of the panels or cutting down a tree can mean improved efficiency of your solar system and can be well worth doing. Panels can also be moved in some cases, or installed in a location other than the one you were originally thinking of.

Generate Energy Shade Analysis

• From $550

• Conduct onsite shade analysis of roof using Suneye 210 Shade Analyser Tool

• Process and analyse Suneye 210 data 

• Provide shade report and recommendations

• Credit offered towards purchase of a system from Generate Energy to offset cost