How much shade is too much
What matters is shade during the productive middle of the day, roughly 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., across the whole year. A tree that shades the roof only at sunrise barely matters. A ponderosa that blocks the south face from late morning on, especially in winter when the sun is low, is a serious problem.
Fort Collins Utilities, for one, asks for a shading analysis when a site sees shade between 9 and 3, which is a sensible test anywhere. We run the same kind of analysis on every quote and show you the year-round shade picture rather than a single summer snapshot.
What microinverters and optimizers can and can’t do
Enphase microinverters and similar electronics keep one shaded panel from dragging down the whole string. That rescues roofs with a chimney shadow or one tree on the corner.
They don’t help when the entire array is in shade for hours. A shaded panel still produces little; the electronics just stop it from hurting the neighbors.
Trimming, ground mounts and wildfire mitigation
On foothill and mountain lots, thinning trees near the house often overlaps with defensible-space work for wildfire mitigation. If you’re already planning that, it may open up a roof face. We’re not arborists and won’t tell you which trees to take down, but we can model what the roof would produce if specific trees were thinned.
Many shaded lots have a sunny clearing, a meadow or a south slope away from the house. A ground mount there, which we build, can outproduce any rooftop layout. Trenching distance and terrain add cost, so we price it out rather than guess.
When the answer is a battery without solar
If what you really want is to keep the well pump and furnace running during outages, a battery works with no panels at all, charging from the grid. On Xcel’s time-of-use rate it can also shift some evening usage to cheaper hours. It won’t lower your bill the way solar can, but it isn’t dependent on sunlight either.
What to do next
- 1Send photos of the roof from the south side at midday, ideally in winter.
- 2We run a year-round shade analysis and tell you plainly whether rooftop makes sense.
- 3If it doesn’t, we check the lot for a ground-mount site.
- 4If there’s no sunny spot, consider a battery for backup or community solar for clean power.
FAQ
Questions we hear
Will you install panels on a shaded roof if I insist?
We’ll show you the modeled production and the payback first. If the numbers say it won’t pay off, we’ll say so in writing. We’d rather lose a job than sell a system that disappoints.
Do bifacial or high-efficiency panels solve shade?
No. Higher-efficiency panels squeeze more from the light they get, but shade cuts the light itself. They can help a borderline roof; they don’t rescue a heavily shaded one.
How far can a ground mount be from the house?
It can be well away from the house; the limits are cost and voltage drop. Longer trench runs mean larger wire and more digging, which we price into the quote. Rocky foothill soil can add cost too.
Can I get solar power without installing anything?
Community solar gardens let you subscribe to part of an off-site array and get credits on your bill. Availability and terms vary by utility, so check with yours.