This may work in mild climates, but the areas where winter heating is most needed will have the solar panels under a bed of snow during the winter months.
Additionally, winter months are usually the cloudy ones. It's not very uncommon to have just a couple of sunny days per month in European winters, driving down solar gains even if there's no snow cover.
Additionally, winter months are usually the cloudy ones. It's not very uncommon to have just a couple of sunny days per month in European winters, driving down solar gains even if there's no snow cover.