[RE-wrenches] Strategies for hurricane resistant solar arrays?

[Chris Mason]

All our installations are in the Caribbean. The glass blow out (or suck out
which is more likely) doesn't surprise me, that is the design limitation.
It doesn't matter how tough the rail is if the modules blow out.
Tilt installations are bad for hurricane zones. I keep out flat roof
installations to a lower tilt than is recommended for this reason. I also
favour parapets around the roof to protect them, so if you have some blocks
and masons around, let them add two rows of blocks to the roof line.
I suspect smaller modules are stronger, so 180W modules would be better
than 300W.
CanadianSolar have a line of 300~W modules with a bar across the back, but
it will only help with blow not suck as it is not attached to the backing.
I've looked at fitting a crossbar into the frame attached to the backing
with 5200 or similar, but the question is, how are you going to test, you
have killed the warranty, and is it worth it?
This is a tough place to install solar.

On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 6:20 PM, Darren Anderson <darren at self.org> wrote:

> In light of Hurricane Matthew and the loss of some of our PV systems on
> South Coast of Haiti (despite being designed for 120 - 150mph winds), I’d
> be interested to hear of any strategies being used for making
> hurricane-resistant solar arrays. The maximum wind speed that most
> commercially available racking systems seem to provide is 130 – 150mph, but
> in many cases it seems the racking survives okay anyway while the glass is
> blown right out of the module frames.
>
> Are there any modules rated for higher than 2400 Pascals of wind loading
> (which seems to be the norm)? I recall seeing a Mitsubishi module a few
> years back that had an additional frame member running across the back of
> the module. Would that provide extra wind load protection?
>
> Would using small solar modules with less surface area be a useful
> strategy? (We typically use standard 60-cell modules.)
>
> Can some sort of wind break or shield be designed into the frame to take
> the wind load off the solar modules themselves? (Many of our systems are on
> tilt-frames on flat concrete roofs so that back of the array is exposed.)
>
> Any thoughts/advice/experience in this area would be much appreciated.
> Thanks.
> _______________________
>
> *Darren Anderson *| Project Manager
>
> *Solar Electric Light Fund *| www.SELF.org
>
> mobile:            +1-778-887-8291
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-- 
Chris Mason
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™
Solar Design Engineer
Generac Generators Industrial technician

www.cometsolar.com <http://www.cometenergysystems.com>
264.235.5670
869.662.5670
Skype: netconcepts
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