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The direction your solar panels face is one of the most important decisions in your installation. Orientation affects how much sunlight your system captures, directly impacting performance, efficiency, and long-term savings.
Whether you’re in Kent, Essex, Surrey, or elsewhere in the UK, choosing the correct orientation can maximise your solar production.
Ultimately, the goal is to ensure as much sunlight reaches your solar panels as possible to maximise your solar production and improve your return on investment. Remember, solar panels work with diffused light rather than direct sunlight.
The direction of your solar panels is determined using the “azimuth angle,” which essentially takes a direction, e.g., South, and uses it as our reference point by assigning it the position of 0°. As we move East, the number moves into negatives, e.g., -90°. As we move West, the number moves into the positives, e.g. 90°.
| Direction | Azimuth Angle |
| South | 0° |
| West | +90° |
| North | 180° |
| East | -90° |
Using the above guide, a 45° orientation would be South-West facing, whereas a -45° orientation would be South-East facing.
Studies have shown that whilst solar panels’ orientation (azimuth angle) impacts solar production, the technology has advanced to maintain solar production where a South orientation is not possible. For example, studies by the University of York show that solar panels with a +30° orientation, i.e. South-West, achieved almost 97% solar production as panels facing South. Conversely, solar panels with a -17° orientation, i.e. South-East, achieved 99% solar production as panels facing South. In essence, proving that you don’t have to have a south-facing roof to benefit from solar panels.
“You don’t have to have a south-facing roof to benefit from solar panels.”
Studies have also shown that, due to improvements in solar panel technology, even with North-facing panels, solar production still achieves 54% of that from South-facing panels.
When considering the direction you want your panels to face, it is also worth considering when you want to generate electricity to match your usage. Whilst the saying goes that the sun “rises in the east and sets in the west”, this isn’t valid year-round and varies to the benefit of solar production in the brighter summer months.
Here is where the sun rises and sets in the UK, depending on the time of year:
| Season | Sunrise | Sunset |
| Winter | South-East | South-West |
| Spring | East | West |
| Summer | North-East | North-West |
| Autumn | East | West |
As such, North-facing panels are likely to boost solar production in the morning and evening during the summer months, therefore extending the use of solar electricity, enabling you to avoid paying inflated electricity costs from the grid of around £0.25p per kilowatt hour (kWh).
As a guide, consider these orientations to meet your demand throughout the day:
| Day Usage | Orientation |
| Morning | East or South-East |
| Afternoon | West or South-West |
| All Day / Battery Storage | South |
As shown above, it’s not only south-facing roofs that will benefit from solar panels. Yes, they will maximise your solar production; however, even with a north-facing roof, you can harness solar power. Better still, if you do have a south-facing roof, this essentially means you have a north-facing roof on the other side, which could add another +50% of your solar production. As the installer will already be on site and have scaffolding covered, this isn’t a case of doubling the cost. Instead, we estimate doubling up would add 50% to your install costs. Generally speaking, this will mean your return on investment remains about the same, but increases your export capacity and lifetime earnings by selling your excess back to the grid.
With orientation sorted, the next important factor for your solar panels is “tilt angle”. In the UK, the angle of the sun varies between 60° and 20° depending on the time of year, i.e. the sun is higher in the sky during Summer (60°) and lower in the sky during Winter (20°). In an ideal World, you would have adjustable brackets to alter the angle of your panels throughout the year. Studies have shown that this can increase annual solar production by almost 7%. However, as this is not always possible (or practical), UK solar panels are generally set to 30-40° to maximise solar production year-round.
Here is a table showing the optimal tilt angles for solar panels across the UK:
| City | Tilt Angle |
| London | 37° – 47° |
| Birmingham | 38° – 48° |
| Manchester | 39° – 49° |
| Newcastle | 40° – 50° |
| Edinburgh | 41° – 51° |
The lower angle is to optimise summer solar production when the sun is higher in the sky.
The higher angle is to optimise winter solar production when the sun is lower in the sky.
As you can see above, the tilt angle depends on where you are in the country, with a greater angle required the further North you go. The ideal tilt varies across the country depending on your latitude. To gauge your optimal tilt angle, you can find your latitude and apply the following calculation as a general rule of thumb:
Latitude x 0.76 + 3.1 = Tilt Angle
To ensure you can achieve your optimal tilt angle, you should also consider that in the UK, most roofs pitch between 30° and 50°. For what it is worth, anything below 10° is considered as a flat roof.
If you don’t know the angle of your roof, you can work this out using a smartphone app or using trigonometry with a tape measure and a spirit level. To do this, hold the spirit level straight with one edge touching the roof. From a measured distance along the spirit level (e.g. 12 inches), you then use your tape measure to measure the distance vertically down to the roof (e.g. 10 inches). Once you have this, you can enter these measurements into an online calculator. If using a mobile phone calculator, you want to use the atan-1 of your trigonometry settings e.g. atan(0.625) = 32°.
North-facing panels are rarely optimal in the UK unless no south-facing surface is available.
| Orientation | Output (UK) | Best For |
| South-facing | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (100%) | Maximum generation, all-year use |
| East/West-facing | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (80–85%) | Morning or evening energy peaks |
| North-facing | ⭐⭐ (60–70%) | Reduced output but will boost solar production with other orientations especially through Summer |
If you’re in the UK or northern hemisphere, south-facing panels are the top choice for:
If your roof only allows north-facing installs, consider:
Not sure which orientation works best for your home? We’ll help you:
We install across Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex.
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