North (and east/west) facing panels are still worth having, don't discount them.
On my system in the north of England (not traditionally great for solar), I have 10 north and 10 south facing panels, all the same kind of panel.
On a bright, sunny day the north panels produce about 30% of my overall output, which is much less than the south facing panels but given on a good day I can produce 60kWh+, that's still ~20kWh of energy I'd otherwise lose.
However, it's on the crappy, overcast days that it really matters because both sets of panels generate about the same amount as each other (clouds reflect light). Sure, it's less then half the total output of a "good" day, but we're still talking a good 20kWh of output. Without the north panels, it would be half that.
Panels themselves are cheap, so don't skimp on them.
Yup same and we didn't get air conditioning either.