What causes a tree is shading my solar panels?
Two systems on different clocks. The array was sized against the site as it looked on install day, and the shade study may have modeled the canopy then rather than twenty years of growth. Meanwhile the tree adds height and spread every season — central Indiana's fast suburban shade trees, silver and red maple, tulip poplar, sycamore, put on substantial height in a decade. At this latitude the low winter sun angle means a tree that is clear of the array in June clips it in December.
What you'd see
Production dropping in a predictable daily window; panel-level monitoring showing one or two strings falling off while the rest hold; a shadow crossing the array in the morning or late afternoon rather than at midday; worse output this summer than the same month last year as the canopy grew; shade that only reaches the roof from October to February when the sun sits low. Photograph the array at 9am, noon, and 4pm on a clear day before you call anyone — that is the entire diagnosis.
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