Shading effects can creep up on you!

Ian S

Shading effects are not usually static in nature. The change in the sun's path over the year combined with growth in vegetation can significantly impact your solar production. I am fortunate in that I have unobstructed southern exposure of my panels on a flat roof in Phoenix. However, I have a couple of trees to the west of the house that had no impact from the installation in late May through the summer. But as fall approached, it was clear there had been significant growth in the trees and with the sun's lower position in the sky, their shade began to be an issue in the late afternoon gradually creeping into mid afternoon. Fortunately, monitoring the output showed pretty clearly what was happening. We finally got the trees trimmed yesterday and gained 30% in afternoon production.
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BB.

Re: Shading effects can creep up on you!

Yea--I probably have spent more on tree trimming than I have saved in electrical costs over my ~8 years of production.

Anyway--My back yard is much sunnier now.

-Bill