When the sun is high in the
sky (e.g. at midday in
summer), then a 1m wide shaft
of sunlight will be completely
captured by that solar panel:
Now, if the sun is at an angle of 30° from
horizontal, that same 1m wide shaft of light
actually is spread out over 2m when it hits
the ground:
The flat solar panel, in this example, will only get half the sunlight, and therefore
produce half the energy
compared to the sun being directly overhead.
The solution in this example is of course, to tilt the panel by 60° so that it captures
all the sunlight:
Solar Panel Top Tips
• If you use a crystalline panel, don’t forget that even the shadow of a
thin wire can make a difference to the power output. Make sure as
many cells as possible are in full sun.
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