When installing solar it is important to consider two factors. What the elevation angle of the panel is and what direction it is facing.

The panel elevation should remain generally unchanged, and should be set somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees (the normal angle of slope of a roof plane).

The direction a panel faces can be a little more complicated. The best direction to have the panels face is south; this means the panels have access to the sun all day long. But what if south is impossible to achieve on your property?

You have two choices - an east west split (a property with no south facing roof).

1) You may install solar panels on either side of the roof surface.

2) You may over compensate by putting more panels on one side of the roof than you would generally need (in the instance of a property needing two panels, three panels would be fitted instead).

Overcompensating

Is exactly the same as a south facing install, where all the panels are installed on the same side of the roof, however more panels are added as there are fewer hours of sunlight available on an east west roof.

East West Split

The panels are split up and put on either side of the roof to maximise the amount of sunlight harvested.