A solar panel installation in your home can bring all sorts of benefits: lower electric bills, a smaller carbon footprint and even raising the value of your home. But what if your house is surrounded by tall trees? Will you have to cut them down to make your solar dreams come true?
The good news is that a little shade shouldn’t be a problem. You likely won’t need to cut down any trees unless they create shade that covers the entire solar array. So, a good mix of cutting down a few limbs and having some trees near your house is ideal because the latter can help you on your mission to lower energy costs and live greener.
Here’s how shade trees can affect your ability to go solar.
How much sun do you need for solar panels?
Solar panels will soak up sunlight during all hours of the day. The light your solar panels really need to be efficient comes from peak sun hours, which are the hours of the day when the sun is at its highest and most intense. Typically, it’s recommended that a property receives at least four peak sun hours per day to be a good candidate for solar.
“You get most of the energy from your solar panels between around 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. After that, the energy you get from the sun falls off exponentially,” Fox Swim, senior solar industry researcher at Aurora Solar, which makes design software for solar installers, told CNET.
Southwestern states like New Mexico, Arizona and California rank near the top of the list of places in the US with the most average peak sun hours. States that aren’t exactly known for sunny skies, like Washington and Massachusetts, can still get enough sunlight to make solar worthwhile.
Even if your roof is sometimes shaded, that doesn’t mean you can’t install solar panels. As the sun moves across the sky, it will shine on different parts of your roof. An oak or weeping willow that provides a little afternoon shade won’t necessarily impact your panels’ ability to produce sunlight in the morning and midday.
“Shade typically impacts part of the roof. Very rarely will you have shade covering the entire roof,” JD Dillon, chief marketing officer at Tigo Energy, a manufacturer of optimizers, inverters, and other solar equipment, told CNET.
Can I go solar if I have trees shading my house?
The good news is that if you love the trees around your home, you can likely still install solar on your roof. Thanks to advancements in solar technology, a little shade on a panel or two shouldn’t cause too many issues.
In the past, shade on a single panel in a solar array could impact all the panels on a roof, Dillon said. Now we have equipment like micro-inverters and optimizers that maximize the output and performance of each individual panel. This means that even if a few panels are shaded during part of the day, it shouldn’t impact the performance of the rest of the array.
“Trees are a consideration that a professional installer will take into account when designing solar for the home,” Dillon said. “Trees are a factor just like what direction your roof faces and whether it’s flat or steep.”
As you research and vet solar companies, managing shade from trees should be part of the conversation. Other factors — like the direction your home faces, whether your roof is flat or steep or whether you’ve got high-usage equipment like a pool pump or an EV charger for your electric vehicle — can impact your ability to go solar even more.
“Your installer will immediately go to Google Earth, look at your home, and look at your utility bill,” Dillon said. “Your utility usage and your electricity rates are way more important than shade.”
Shade trees can be a valuable tool in boosting your home’s energy efficiency and reducing your energy bills. Shading the eastern and western sides of your home with plants can block the hot sunshine from your windows in the morning and afternoon. Keep the southern side of your home clear to allow your solar panels to soak up the most sun.
“There’s a lot of evidence that planting trees and bushes in the appropriate areas can significantly reduce home cooling bills up to 25 percent,” Swim said.
If your home is shaded by trees or nearby buildings, your installer can offer other strategies to help you save money with solar. Incorporating an energy storage system like a solar battery with your solar panel system and adjusting the angle of your panels can help manage the impact of shade.
Should I cut down my trees to go solar?
Unless your roof is completely shaded by trees throughout the day, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll need to cut down trees around your home to go solar.
“I myself have three trees next to my house,” Dillon said. “When I told my wife we were getting solar, her first statement was, ‘You’re not cutting down the trees.’ But you don’t have to.”
Depending on your home and your property, there may be alternatives to installing solar on your roof, whether trees are an issue or not. A solar carport might be a better option, while homeowners with larger acreage could benefit from a ground-mounted system instead.
If you do find that your property isn’t the best fit for solar, you have other options for sourcing clean energy to power your home, without installing rooftop solar panels. In states with deregulated energy markets, you can purchase a renewable energy plan through your local utility. It’s also a good idea to check if your state offers community solar programs, which allow you to subscribe to large solar projects in your region.
