Solar Panel Installations on Existing Structures

The rising price of fossil fuels, government incentives and growing public aware-ness for the need to implement sustainable energy supplies has resulted in a large in-crease in solar panel installations across the country. For many sites the most eco-nomical solar panel installation uses existing, southerly facing rooftops. Adding solar panels to an existing roof typically means increased loads that must be borne by the building-s structural elements. The structural design professional is responsible for ensuring a new solar panel installation is properly supported by an existing structure and configured to maximize energy generation.

Authors:

• Tim D. Sass
• Pe
• Leed

Keywords:

• Solar Panel
• Structures
• Structural Design.

References:

[1] National Renewable Energy Laboratory 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden
Colorado 80401-3305t. 303-275-3000 www.nrel.gov., "Technical
Report NREL/TP-6A0-44073 Supply Curves for Rooftop Solar PVGenerated
Electricity for the United States" by Paul Denholm and
Robert Margolis, November 2008, www.nrel.gov.
[2] "Performance of Solar Power Plants in India", submitted to Central
Electricity Regu-latory Commission New Delhi by Dr. BD Sharma,
February 2011, www.cercind.gov.in.
[3] The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Canberra, Australia,
www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom - an online calculator for estimating
solar panel effi-ciency, Christiana Honsberg and Stuart Bowden.