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Climate-Specific Design – Risk vs. Value Engineering
Mother Nature offers an endless supply of clean solar energy, yet she also has a darker side capable of causing significant damage to solar installations. As your Owner's Engineer, Pure Power ensures that the systems you build or acquire are designed to handle all the conditions they’ll face over their 25+ year lifespan, without unnecessary overspending.
A solar system isn't just built for normal everyday conditions—it's built to withstand the worst-case scenarios Mother Nature might throw at it. Sometimes, under pressure to cut costs, vendors or installers might take overly aggressive approaches in design and fabrication, inadvertently transferring risks to the owner. As your Owner's Engineer (OE), we review the entire project—equipment, design, installation, climate, and location—to ensure you benefit from "value engineering" without taking on undue risks.
To guarantee the longest possible system lifespan and optimal performance, stakeholders must pay close attention to environmental factors and locations that could impose unusual stress on PV system components. Long-term performance impacts of these exposures are equally critical. Common examples of climate-specific conditions influencing design decisions include snow and frost, coastal high winds, seismic activity, and high heat and ultraviolet (UV) exposure.
**Snow and Frost Considerations**
In areas prone to snow and frost, project stakeholders need to address potential structural and performance challenges.
*Structural Issues:* Ground-mounted structures in snowy regions must be elevated to allow for snow shedding. Typically, this requires three feet of clearance from the ground instead of the usual 18 to 20 inches. Steady-state fixed-tilt structures are particularly vulnerable to snow-loading forces, whereas single-axis trackers, which adjust position throughout the day, are usually spared the worst of it. Given these height requirements, obtaining a site-specific geotechnical report is essential. This ensures the design properly accounts for snow-related forces. Stakeholders must also verify that the design addresses frost effects like foundation heaving.
*Performance Issues:* PV system projections in snowy environments must factor in the impact of snow coverage. Even in tracker-mounted applications, ignoring these performance impacts is not an option. As your Owner's Engineer, we prefer using the Marion snow loss model, which is based on extensive scientific research and has been validated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
**Coastal High Wind Considerations**
Coastal areas are subject not only to high wind speeds associated with hurricanes but also to flooding.
*Wind Mitigation:* High wind speeds often dictate structural design. In tracker systems, strategies like wind stowing and stow angles are crucial. The ability to maintain power during stowing is vital since some trackers rely on electricity to achieve stow angles and resist wind forces. I prefer systems that can endure hurricanes without needing redundant systems, given the Fukushima reactor's failure despite multiple redundancies.
*Flood Mitigation:* Since hurricanes bring heavy rainfall, designs in these areas must accommodate flooding. Elevating mounting structures and electrical equipment is a common approach to reduce flood risks.
**Seismic Considerations**
Seismic zones are areas where earthquakes are more likely to occur with greater intensity. In these regions, seismic hazards typically dictate PV system designs. These considerations are most noticeable in low-slope roofs and ballasted ground-mounts.
*Roof Applications:* Horizontal forces caused by earthquakes pose a challenge for non-anchored PV systems. For instance, ballasted roof-mounted projects are essentially floating structures isolated from the building. Friction and weight are key to countering seismic forces. Increasing weight requires more ballast, possibly necessitating roof reinforcement. Anchoring might be more practical or cost-effective than adding extra ballast.
*Ground-Mount Applications:* While driven-pile foundations don't need adaptations for seismic forces, some floating ground-mount systems require no ground penetrations. These solutions may not be cost-effective in seismic zones. Developers in high-seismic areas should weigh the cost implications of ballasted foundations early in the process.
**High Heat and UV Considerations**
Unlike earlier considerations, high heat and UV exposure affect system longevity and operational performance rather than structural integrity. We focus more on what happens in Year 10 than Day 1.
*UV Degradation:* Long-term UV exposure concerns include wire management hardware, PV wires, labels, and plastic enclosures. Strategic product specifications and shielding components from sunlight can mitigate these effects.
*Thermal Derating:* Inverter type and placement are crucial in hot climates. Central inverters typically maintain full-rated power output at higher temperatures than string inverters. String inverters are easier to place in shaded areas, and arrays can provide shade in ground-mount setups.
**Tornado Design Considerations**
For tornado-prone areas, it's vital to consider extreme wind speeds and flying debris that can impact solar installations and storage units. Structural designs should include robust anchoring and reinforced materials. Layouts should minimize exposure to wind funnels and debris paths. These precautions ensure PV systems and storage units remain operational and safe post-storm, safeguarding investments and energy supplies.
*Structural Reinforcement:* Systems must endure extreme tornado winds. This involves reinforced mounting structures and robust anchoring systems. Ground mounts require deeper foundations, while roof mounts need additional anchors and strengthened components.
*Aerodynamic Design:* Streamlining shapes and protective covers can reduce wind resistance, allowing wind to flow smoothly around components and reducing pressure.
In conclusion, ensuring the resilience of solar installations requires careful planning and consideration of various environmental factors. As your Owner's Engineer, Pure Power ensures your systems are prepared for anything Mother Nature throws their way.