How the roof gets into the calculation

The calculator never asks you for tilt or azimuth: it takes them from the faces you drew.

What goes into the calculation

• The panel — its power and specs, the same one you see in the calculator’s Panels.
• Every face with panels — its pitch and direction and how many panels sit on it. Each face becomes its own array.
• Where each panel sits — for the shade of trees, chimneys and neighbors at that exact spot, from Google’s height data.

Faces without panels don’t enter the calculation, but they still shape the setbacks.

What you see in the calculator

Under the image in Roof: Panels and the panel model, System size in kW DC, Panel area with its share of the roof, and Faces with panels with each face’s direction and pitch. The same numbers are on the Roof line on the left.

Panels that don’t count

A panel isn’t counted when it’s off every roof face, on a face without a pitch, or on top of another panel. The calculator then says how many panels aren’t counted and why — open the editor and move, delete or re-place them.

A red panel — in a setback or on an obstacle — is still counted. Fix it before you make the proposal: Why panels turn red.

After you change the roof

The editor saves every change and the calculator picks up the new roof — the Roof numbers update by themselves. If you already calculated, press Calculate again before you make the PDF.