[RE-wrenches] Hurricane damage to solar arrays

Thu Sep 14 05:11:59 PDT 2017

Most of the systems around here that were affected are microinverter based,
so we plan to look at degradation impacts through monitoring.

On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 6:49 PM, Brian Teitelbaum <bteitelbaum at aeesolar.com>
wrote:

> Thanks for the early report Jason. Be safe down there.
>
> I would be cautious about those modules that were so violently tossed
> about, even if the glass is intact. They may be full of cell micro fractures
>
> It would be interesting if we had IR images of working arrays from before
> and after a huge wind event like that, to see if there is any degradation
> of output. Maybe there are enough monitored systems with historical data
> now to see the effects, if any.
>
> Brian Teitelbaum
> AEE Solar
>
> On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 3:18 PM, Jason Szumlanski <jason@
> floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm based in Fort Myers and we cover the hardest hit areas from Irma. We
>> are in the "stuff" right now, so I'll make this brief until I have more
>> time, which might be a while. We are seeing quite a bit of minor damage and
>> some major damage. We're getting calls from all dealers' customers and a
>> couple of our own clients. We have several homes with one or two panels
>> dislodged. There is no rhyme or reason. Some are middle of arrays, some on
>> edges. Panels are ripped right off rails, leads ripped from microinverters.
>> Strangely, it looks like the panel j-box connection and MC4 connectors
>> survived better than the microinverter end of the DC leads. Amazingly, we
>> have several panels that were blown onto driveways, other roofs, and pool
>> cages with NO DAMAGE except frame scrapes. Very weird. We haven't seen a
>> shattered panel yet, but it's early.
>>
>> I'm heading to a self-storage facility tomorrow where there are three
>> 25kw systems on different buildings. Two buildings are unscathed. One
>> building lost ALL of the panels apparently. Tornado? Hard to say.
>>
>> So far (other than the 25kw I have not evaluated) we have not seen a
>> single fastener pulled out. All of the failures are panel top and mid
>> clamps at this time. Anchor and rails remain intact. Possibly installation
>> errors? Possibly sheared off T-bolts? Hard to tell and we may never fully
>> know.
>>
>> We generally require 48 inch spacing between anchors into trusses for
>> engineered systems. The pullout values are pretty high. It looks like the
>> attachment points into the roof are not going to be the failure point in
>> the systems in Florida, but there is a LOT of work to be done still. It's
>> going to be a very interesting few months ahead!
>>
>>
>> Jason Szumlanski
>> Florida Solar Design Group
>> 
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 12, 2017 at 3:09 PM, James Rudolph <jamesrudolph99 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Aloha Everyone,
>>> I was just wondering how all the PV arrays did during these storms?
>>> Does Florida have higher pull out values and wind designs for their
>>> PV/H20 systems?
>>> Is there any thing the rest of us could learn from all this?
>>> Photos?
>>>
>>>
>>> Mahalo Nui Loa,
>>>
>>>
>>> *James B. Rudolph*
>>>
>>> *Hawaii Unified*
>>>
>>> *Director of Energy*
>>>
>>> *ES Electrician # 10816*
>>>
>>> *NABCEP Certified PV Installer # 091209-155*
>>>
>>> *80*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
> --
> Brian Teitelbaum
> Application Engineer
> AEE Solar, Inc.
> Redway, CA
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