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U.S. rooftops get a thumbs-up for solar after Sandia testing

U.S. rooftops get a thumbs-up for solar after Sandia testing

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Most U.S. rooftops in good repair can take the weight of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. That’s the conclusion of a three-year study by a research team led by Sandia National Laboratories.

“There is a misperception in the building industry that existing residential rooftops lack the strength to carry the weight load of rooftop solar photovoltaic installations,” said Sandia structural engineer Steve Dwyer. “Most existing well-built wooden rooftops can support PV system loads.”

Sandia took on the job of analyzing rooftop structural strength to address concerns raised in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar America Cities program. The agency named 25 cities to promote adoption of solar technology at a comprehensive, local level through photovoltaics.

At least one city reported the primary barrier to solar was the difficulty and cost of obtaining construction permits for rooftop solar installations because of structural issues. “I couldn’t believe it was a problem,” said Dwyer, who led the Sandia test team. “Solar PV systems represent little additional weight and roofs are very strong.”

He said many code officials aren’t familiar with solar technology and lack the training to evaluate how a solar PV system might affect roof structure. So they bring structural engineers into the permitting process, adding time and money for the system owner and the solar contractor. Often, they then deny engineering certification for solar PV installations on wood roofs, declaring the structures too weak.

Load-bearing capacity is several times higher

In two, first-of-their-kind studies funded by DOE’s SunShot Initiative — which seeks to make solar energy cost competitive with other energy sources by the end of the decade — and conducted in partnership with the University of New Mexico (UNM), Sandia stressed wood rooftop structures to the point of failure and compared the data with allowable loads identified in the International Residential Code and the National Design Standard.

They concluded the actual load-bearing capacity for residential rooftop structural systems is several times higher than the calculated values.

Sandia hopes engineers and permitting officials will use the results when they make decisions about rooftop strength and solar PV applications, increasing the number of safe, cost-effective rooftop solar PV installations.

“Safety is a crucial factor in building codes and must be considered when there is any change to a structure,” Dwyer said. “Understanding how weight loads affect the structural integrity of a roof is important to homeowners, code officials, solar installers and builders. These results provide a new tool and set of data for consideration in evaluating rooftops for solar PV installations.”

The roof acts as a whole

Dwyer said engineers doing rooftop structural analysis often calculate stresses on the basis of an individual beam, rafter or truss. That approach assumes each component of the structure acts alone. “It fails to consider the rooftop system as a whole or consider the load-sharing or load redistribution effects of a roof system,” he said. “The result is a conservative analysis that does not accurately represent the roof’s ability to support a PV installation. It’s not a fair assessment.”

Anand Gupta Editor - EQ Int'l Media Network

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