Solar energy a new angle...

[wyleu]

Having just finished Ivan excellent course I'm facing the future with nervousness but thankfully better informed.
I think it's important to demonstrate my total ignorance so with that in mind can anyone point me to a web site that would allow me to calculate the optimum angle for panels at any time of the year and at any position on the globe. For the moment I will restrict my activities to planet Earth as having investigated the training course's for off planet installation I found the cost prohitative.

Chris

[Ivan]

The attached diagram will give you some idea of how to calculate solar yield at different angles. The diagram was originally produced by NASA I think, and it relates to a site in N. America, and from the diagram, you can see that it relates to a lattitude of 28degrees (in the UK, I am 53degrees).

There are also some online PV efficiency calculators, that can help (ok, it is photovoltaic, but basically it is still solar energy) -

http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/codes_algs/PVWATTS/version1/International/inputv1_intl.cgi
(there are other simpler online PV energy calculators if you do a search for them)

Ivan