Pv Panels Roof Loading

Roof and wind loading the installation of solar pv panels on the roof on a house needs to comply with building regulations including part a on structural safety.

Pv panels roof loading.

Wind loading on solar panels depends on three basic factors. Wind speed the height of the panel above the roof and the relative location of the panel on the roof. Today s photovoltaic pv industry must rely on licensed structural engineers various interpretations of building codes and standards to design pv mounting systems that will withstand wind induced loads. The weight load of the pv system is vital to determine if your rooftop has adequate structural support for pv panels.

The weight is within the acceptable limits of any roof. If the loading to the roof is increased by 15 per cent or more this is a material alteration and formal building regulation approval is required. The euractive roofer project undertook numerous wind tunnel tests using scale models of roofs with panels as well as testing theoretical calculations that can in time form the basis of a european standard. These requirements only went into effect in the 2015 edition.

This is a problem because although permitting agencies require assessments of the structural attachment of solar equipment to rooftops the safety and sufficiency of these attachments are not adequately addressed in any codes or standards. Therefore both the irc and ibc state that the loads imposed by the pv panels on the roof must be considered and the new or existing framing must be capable of supporting this loading including effects of wind and snow load drifting. The feed in tariff and falling costs of pv panels mean that almost every street in the country now has a pv installation.