J
Jerry Ellinghuysen
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Group
We are in the planning stages of building a house in mountainous Colorado.
The site is at 7000 ft in an overgrown pine forest. Thinning has started but
will be a life time project.
House will be EXTREMELY fire resistant (metal roof, concrete walls, working
on window protection).
The weak point is that we have discovered that we will almost certainly want
to go PV. Currently considering two tracking units.
My question how do you protect this PV system from fire danger?
A little more information. The building site is on an acre or so (total 40)
of relatively flat area, surrounded by steep terrain. A couple of close
natural chimneys involved that would generate a lot of heat as fire ran up
through them. Site will require the PV trackers about 100 ft from one of
these chimneys.
Am getting well versed in "defensible space." That won't be the problem.
Worried about the heat generated rolling up the hill and the possible damage
that could be done to the PV trackers and panels.
Would a soaker hose across the tops of the panels work? A sprinkler trained
on the panels? Contemplating a 1300gal cistern, so will have water but will
not be unlimited. At 10 gal/minute that only about 2 hours of protection.
And somebody would have to be there to turn it on.
Or are panels robust enough to not be a big issue?
Any brainstorms greatly appreciated.
We are in the planning stages of building a house in mountainous Colorado.
The site is at 7000 ft in an overgrown pine forest. Thinning has started but
will be a life time project.
House will be EXTREMELY fire resistant (metal roof, concrete walls, working
on window protection).
The weak point is that we have discovered that we will almost certainly want
to go PV. Currently considering two tracking units.
My question how do you protect this PV system from fire danger?
A little more information. The building site is on an acre or so (total 40)
of relatively flat area, surrounded by steep terrain. A couple of close
natural chimneys involved that would generate a lot of heat as fire ran up
through them. Site will require the PV trackers about 100 ft from one of
these chimneys.
Am getting well versed in "defensible space." That won't be the problem.
Worried about the heat generated rolling up the hill and the possible damage
that could be done to the PV trackers and panels.
Would a soaker hose across the tops of the panels work? A sprinkler trained
on the panels? Contemplating a 1300gal cistern, so will have water but will
not be unlimited. At 10 gal/minute that only about 2 hours of protection.
And somebody would have to be there to turn it on.
Or are panels robust enough to not be a big issue?
Any brainstorms greatly appreciated.