Solar Panel Angle & Direction in Canada: A Plain-English Setup Guide

I get this question just about every week: "Larry, what angle do I set my panels at, and which way do I point them?" It's a good question, and the internet makes it more complicated than it needs to be. After 25 years living off our own solar out here in the Peace Country, here's how I'd actually set it up.

Which way to face them: true south, and mind your compass

Point them south. In the northern hemisphere the sun tracks across the southern sky, so a south-facing array collects the most over a day. Simple enough.

Here's the part that trips people up. You want true south, not what your compass calls south. Across Alberta and the Prairies the compass sits about 13 to 16 degrees off true north because of magnetic declination. Aim by compass and you've pointed your whole array 15° in the wrong direction before you've even started. Use a phone app set to true north, or line up off a map. Good news: south isn't fussy. Ten or fifteen degrees to the east or west of true south barely dents your yearly numbers, so don't lose sleep over a perfect line.

What angle to tilt them

For a fixed array that never moves, tilt it about the same as your latitude. That's the angle that gives you the best balance across the whole year:

• Grande Prairie, AB — about 55°
• Edmonton, AB — about 53°
• Calgary, AB — about 51°
• Winnipeg / Regina — about 50°
• Vancouver, BC — about 49°
• Halifax / Toronto — about 44°

Get within five degrees of that and you're fine. A shallower or steeper roof won't ruin you — it just shifts a little production between summer and winter.

Off-grid? Winter is the boss

This is where the rule bends. If you're grid-tied, you're banking summer's extra production against winter, so a year-round average tilt makes sense. Off-grid you don't get that luxury. Your system is only as good as its worst month, and in Canada that's December, when the sun barely clears the trees.

So off-grid, I steepen the tilt — latitude plus 10 to 15 degrees. A steep panel stares straight at that low winter sun instead of squinting past it, and just as important, snow slides off a steep panel instead of sitting there shading it for a week. A flat winter panel under a skiff of snow makes no power at all. I've watched it happen on other people's systems more times than I can count.

If you want the real math on picking your worst-month numbers, that's exactly what our solar system sizing guide walks through.

Fixed, adjustable, or tracking?

Three ways to go, and honestly most folks overthink this one:

• Fixed — bolt it down once at the right angle and forget it. Cheapest, nothing to break, and what most homes should do.
• Seasonally adjustable — a mount you can crank steeper for winter and flatter for summer, usually twice a year. On a top-of-pole mount this takes ten minutes and it's genuinely worth it off-grid.
• Tracking — a motorized mount that follows the sun and can add around 25% over the year. More to maintain through our freeze-thaw and wind, so I only point people to it when the extra ground space and production really pay.

If your roof faces the wrong way or you've got shade, a ground or pole mount out in the open usually beats a compromised roof every time. We get into that trade-off in the solar mount systems overview, and you can see the hardware on our solar mounts page.

The mistakes I see most

• Aiming by compass. Fifteen degrees off before they start. True south only.
• Too shallow for winter. Looks tidy in July, buried in snow come January.
• Ignoring a shadow. One tree or vent stack shading a corner at noon drags down the whole string. Walk the site at the low-sun times of day before you commit.
• Chasing perfection. A few degrees either way costs you almost nothing. Get it close, get it up, start making power.

Frequently asked questions