PV Panel Mounting Specs

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ATSman

ATSman
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Occupation
Electrical Engineer/ Electrical Testing & Controls
I just happen to notice the wind damage to my neighbor's solar panels that were installed last year.
Was wondering if there are any standards/ requirements whether federal or state with regard
to anchoring/ mouting to prevent such wind damage to this equipment. I know with utility scale solar farm installations the tracking type of systems automatically go into a Lockdown mode to prevent damage beyond a certain wind speed but was
curious about residential installations. Any comments would be appreciated.
 

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ggunn

PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
I just happen to notice the wind damage to my neighbor's solar panels that were installed last year.
Was wondering if there are any standards/ requirements whether federal or state with regard
to anchoring/ mouting to prevent such wind damage to this equipment. I know with utility scale solar farm installations the tracking type of systems automatically go into a Lockdown mode to prevent damage beyond a certain wind speed but was
curious about residential installations. Any comments would be appreciated.

Unless the windstorm was of very unusual severity, I suspect shoddy workmanship.
 

jaggedben

Senior Member
Location
Northern California
Occupation
Solar and Energy Storage Installer
Do you actually know that those were blown off? They sure look like they were removed deliberately and stacked. For one thing the leads are disconnected from the optimizers. A couple times I've seen panels blown off the racking, both from installer error installing (or forgetting to install, in one case) end clamps. They tend to flip over on the panel next to them because of the way the leads keep them tethered.

There hasn't been a storm in the bay area that could blow panels off properly installed Ironridge, which is what that appears to be. I wonder whether you caught someone in the middle of work to address a roof leak.

As far as standards, I'm not quite sure how codes address solar specifically, but Ironridge design guidelines, for example, are based on ASCE 7-10, which is a standard building codes are also based on.
 

ATSman

ATSman
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Occupation
Electrical Engineer/ Electrical Testing & Controls
Do you actually know that those were blown off? They sure look like they were removed deliberately and stacked. For one thing the leads are disconnected from the optimizers. A couple times I've seen panels blown off the racking, both from installer error installing (or forgetting to install, in one case) end clamps. They tend to flip over on the panel next to them because of the way the leads keep them tethered.

There hasn't been a storm in the bay area that could blow panels off properly installed Ironridge, which is what that appears to be. I wonder whether you caught someone in the middle of work to address a roof leak.

As far as standards, I'm not quite sure how codes address solar specifically, but Ironridge design guidelines, for example, are based on ASCE 7-10, which is a standard building codes are also based on.

Good point
tks
I will get back to you
 

ggunn

PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
Do you actually know that those were blown off? They sure look like they were removed deliberately and stacked. For one thing the leads are disconnected from the optimizers. A couple times I've seen panels blown off the racking, both from installer error installing (or forgetting to install, in one case) end clamps. They tend to flip over on the panel next to them because of the way the leads keep them tethered.

There hasn't been a storm in the bay area that could blow panels off properly installed Ironridge, which is what that appears to be. I wonder whether you caught someone in the middle of work to address a roof leak.

As far as standards, I'm not quite sure how codes address solar specifically, but Ironridge design guidelines, for example, are based on ASCE 7-10, which is a standard building codes are also based on.

Good catch. I agree; that doesn't look like windstorm damage to me.
 

Zee

Senior Member
Location
CA
seen photos of roofing stripped off by hurricane force winds........but panels remain
 
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