I have a manual positioning system for my solar panels, and I would say that difference between not positioned and correctly positioned panel is 2-3 times - in the morning and afternoons especially in winter time.
Yes, when the angle of incidence is bad that's true. But you have to average that over time to make a good comparison. Basically the power output of the panels drops off as the co-sine of the angle of incidence. So over a whole day you typically lose between 10 and 20%, take into account that in early morning and late afternoon 'twice the output' is not the same as twice the output around noon, and of course you are positioning your panels in such a way that they perform at their best when the lightpath through the atmosphere is the shortest (12:00).
jacquesm|11 years ago
netcan|11 years ago