Solar panels produce energy from when the light hits them in the morning until the sun goes down in the evening.
When the sun begins to move in a northerly direction, normally around 9am, your solar energy production will begin to increase.
For example in summer, you will notice an exponential increase right up to the peak time, normally around mid-day, and then notice the decline around 3pm.
In winter, the noticeable increase may not start until 10am or even later. Other variable factors include:
The direction that the solar panels are facing
- Solar panels are activated when they are exposed to sunlight
Solar panels that are installed on an eastern facing roof are more optimised to absorb sunlight throughout the morning as the sun rises and moves towards the middle of the sky. As the sun starts to set in the west, the eastern facing panels are not exposed to the sunlight, therefore the system will not produce electricity. This is reversed for panels which are installed on a western facing roof. The ideal direction for solar panels in Australia is north.
Whether you have multiple facings and arrays
- If you have multiple solar panel arrays, then they will activate at different times
With residential solar installations, it’s not uncommon to lack roof space for the optimal solar panel installation. You may find that you have enough room on the northern facing roof to fit eight solar panels and room for an additional eight panels on the western facing roof. If this is the case, then you will need to have an inverter with ‘dual MPPT‘ or you will need to have two inverters.
To read more about this, please see our solar inverters page.
With this particular installation, your system should fire up around 9am and still produce power late in the afternoon. It is important to treat the two arrays individually, as they will experience different directional losses based on the pitch of the roof, the direction of the panels, and the voltage of the panels.
Your location in Australia
- The location of the installation also plays a part in the activation of your solar panels
Location can play an important part in the production of solar power. Your position on the planet affects the amount of ultraviolet rays your solar panels are exposed to. The further north you are the more power your solar panels will produce.
The graph illustrates the performance of a 5.0kW PV system in the middle of summer in Townsville, North Queensland.
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Next: How do solar panels work?
- The effect of sunlight on solar panel cells causes an atomic reaction that produces direct current (DC) electricity. The inverter then converts this to safe to use alternating current (AC) electricity.
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