1-Axis Tracking Solar Panel

One of the three most common solar panel mounts, a 1-Axis tracking solar panel will be have a north-south axis of rotation. This means that that panel will have mechanical abilities that allows it to move throughout the day and change the direction of the panel face towards the Eastern horizon at morning, throughout the sky during the day, and towards the Western horizon later in the day to account for the setting sun.

The angle of the solar panel on North/South axis will be fixed (unless manually changed) The tracker will face East towards the sun in the morning and West towards the sun in the evening, while tracking across the sky during the day. Ideally, your panel will still be at an angle equal to the latitude of your location.  There can be some manual shifting of the angle higher during the summer months and lower during the winter to follow more closely with the sun position throughout the year.  A rule of thumb is that during the summer months the angle can be shifted up to 15 degrees higher, and up to 15 degrees lower in the winter months.

This tracking panel is more efficient than a fixed mount because it follows the sun across the sky every day on its axis of rotation.  However, as you would expect the 2-Axis mount is more efficient than the 1-Axis mount.

Here is a diagram explaining how the 1-Axis Tracking Solar Panel work:

To learn more about the other types of solar panels available you can visit our Types of Solar Panels page which highlights the three most common types of Solar Panel Mounts.