The type of roof solar panel you need is determined by the application for which you want to use it. There are generally two different types. One uses photovoltaic cells for producing electricity that is sent into your home's electrical system and keeps you from buying some or all of your electricity from the power supplier while the other one uses tubing with water running through the tubes. The tubes are generally painted flat black for the sun's maximum heat absorption which warms the water which is sent into your home, usually to the hot water heater. This causes the hot water heater to run much less than it ordinarily would. Both of these two types of roof solar panels can save you on your energy bills, but the one that we will focus on in this article is the photovoltaic cell roof solar panel.
If you want to produce electricity, you need to use a photovoltaic cell roof solar panel. As already stated, this type of panel uses photovoltaic cells as its main components. These cells are connected together and mounted on a base of some type and then sealed in by sidewalls and a glass or plexi glass top. This makes up the panel that will produce electricity by turning the sun's rays into electricity by the photovoltaic cells. Cold or heat has no effect as to how much electricity can be produce by a roof solar panel. The amount of electricity that is produced is determined by the amount of sunlight and the number of photovoltaic cells that are in the roof solar panel and also by the number of panels used. You can produce electricity for part or all of your home or for an out building. How much electricity production you might want will be up to you.
In cold weather climates where there is snowfall, you will want to place the roof solar panels in a place where you can get to them to remove accumulated snow in order that the sun's rays on the photovoltaic cells can do its job. You will need to place the roof solar panels on a south facing roof or wall. They can also be placed on a structure built solely for their use. If you did build a separate structure for this purpose you might want to build it where you can tilt the panels to gather maximum sunlight according to the season. So as you can see, a roof solar panel can be placed on a roof or even a separate structure.
