{"id":40049,"date":"2020-05-27T11:24:23","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T00:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=40049"},"modified":"2025-07-29T09:58:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T00:28:25","slug":"solar-panels-trees-shade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-panels-trees-shade\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Evaluate Solar When Your House Is Nestled Among Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"solar

There’s nothing better than a house surrounded by lush green trees. But will those trees make solar panels pointless, or will the shade they cast be manageable? Here’s how to find out.<\/p><\/div>\n

Max from Sydney emailed this question to\u00a0the support inbox last week:<\/p>\n

“Hi, We have 3 large gums on a small property in Sydney. We are planning to build a 2nd floor and are hoping that gives us enough height to put solar on. Can you help us figure out if we can?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here are the drawings he sent through:<\/p>\n

\"house<\/p>\n

Max’s architect has carefully designed a beautiful 2-storey extension, nestled between trees on the east and west ends of the house.<\/p>\n

Now the design has been completed, Max is keen to know if it will be worthwhile to put solar panels on his new roof, or will it be too shaded by those three beautiful gum trees?<\/p>\n

In my experience, if you ask a conscientious solar installer this question, many will err on the side of caution and advise against going solar. That might seem like an odd response, but it’s all about reputational risk. The last thing they want is to install a system that doesn’t perform to your expectations – or worse, appears as an opportunistically timed photo on the ‘Crap Solar’ Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0taken at just the right time of day to show those shiny solar panels in dense shade.<\/p>\n

It’s a shame when home owners decide against going solar on a partially shaded roof without quantifying the shade problem. But you can’t blame them for not dropping thousands of dollars on solar power if no one will tell them how much energy they can expect to generate. Without good advice, they’ll always fear the worst case: investing in panels and getting bugger all solar electricity.<\/p>\n

The only way to quantify the shade from trees on a roof before the house is built is to build a 3D model of both the house and the trees. I know, I know, that sounds time-consuming and expensive. But it doesn’t have to be.<\/p>\n

Any architect or home builder worth their salt should have your house plans readily available as a digital 3D model. From the 2D pictures Max sent me I could see that a CAD model already existed, so I emailed him back:<\/p>\n

“It looks like your architect already has a digital model of your house. Ask him\/her if you can get a ‘Sketchup compatible’ model including those trees.<\/p>\n

If you can send that through I can do the shade analysis very quickly.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Step #1 – Load The\u00a0 Model Into SketchUp<\/h2>\n

Luckily Max had a great architect who was happy to oblige with the 3D model. \u00a0I promptly received an ‘.skd’ file of the house and trees, which I loaded into SketchUp:<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sketchup

The raw model in Sketchup.<\/p><\/div>\n

Once the model was in SketchUp I had to:<\/p>\n