Do Solar Panels Generate Power in the winter if it is sunny?

Do solar panels generate power in the winter if it is sunny?

On sunny winter days solar panels will still generate electricity and can do so at fairly high rates. Solar panels are affected by temperature and on hot summer days the peak electricity output will be reduced as the temperature increases so winter with cooler days will help raise that peak.


Do solar panel generate power in the winter if it is sunny?

Against the improvement from temperature the length of day is reduced and the sun is much lower in the sky which will reduce the amount of solar panel electricity generated. Obviously on snowy days the electricity generated will be zero when the panels are covered in snow and when the panels are frosty as in the photo of our panels above they won't produce any power until the sun comes up and melts the frost off them.

The power generated from solar panels in the UK in winter is much lower than during summer months as you can see from the tables in the links below. December average from our panels is around 100kWh for the month but summer months such as June can generate well over 400kWh. So in summer the solar panels generated four times as much electricity as in winter - or in winter the electricity produced by solar panels is one quarter of the amount in summer.

Solar Panel electricity produced in winter

Solar power generated in January
Solar power produced in June

Monthly summary of solar electricity produced