Asce 7 Solar Panels

1510 7 2 1 provides additional information regarding seismic and wind design requirements for roof top solar panels and references new sections added to asce 7.

Asce 7 solar panels.

David banks phd p eng principal. Section 29 4 3 addresses buildings of all heights with a flat roof or gable hip roofs with a slight slope less than 7 degrees. The wind loads for solar panels do not have to be applied simultaneously with the component and cladding wind loads for the roof. See asce 7 16 for important details not included here.

At the time they advocated the use of the mwfrs methodology of asce 7 05 which uses the solar structure as the main wind force resisting system but can be too conservative for a ballasted system that is often not a contiguous structure. Cain p e consultant solar energy industries association seia washington d c. In asce 7 16 there are two sections that cover rooftop solar panels. Wind loads on rooftop photovoltaic panel systems installed parallel to roof planes joseph h.

Section 29 4 4 covers the other roof slopes. Example of asce 7 16 figure 29 4 7 excerpt for rooftop solar panel design wind loads. Amendment also allows dsa to accept industry standards to ensure compliance of solar panel attachments after recent solar panel attachment failures. Determining wind and snow loads for solar panels 2 u s.

Printed with permission from asce. Required 10 inch minimum distance from roof edge or ridge height above roof between 2 inches and 10 inches minimum gap of 0 25 inch between adjacent rows of panels in earlier version of ac 428 minimum gap was 0 75 inch. Recently asce 7 10 was published and has become the basis for the 2012 series of the international codes i codes. Model building codes have used asce 7 05 as the basis for several years which largely follows the design principles of allowable stress design.

Asce 7 10 with icc es ac 428 criteria physical constraints of ac 428 wind method. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the mechanical design of photovoltaic systems for wind and snow loads in the united states and provide guidance using the american society of civil engineers asce minimum design loads for buildings and other structures asce 7 05 and asce 7 10 as appropriate.