Good morning,
I’ve been looking at getting solar panels fitted to a 30m x 20m steel framed shed with timber purlins and tin sheet roof. I’ve paid £1k for a structural survey that tells us that the purlins are not strong enough and that they would need doubling up to support the extra load as they might buckle and fail under worst case snow and wind scenarios.
The existing purlins are 75x225mm and span 5.70m. The plan was to put 2 rows of 16 panels across the width of the roof however it now looks as though is not possible as the additional weight is going to take it to 20% over capacity.
I believe this is to comply with the strict MCS regulations and I have been told that if I get them fitted by a company who is not MCS compliant and don’t get a MCS certificate then our insurance would be invalid or if we were to sell the farm we’d have to prove that the panels had been installed to MCS standard.
How do other farms completely fill their shed roof with panels?
Apart from looking at a ground fixing solution or installing less panels to bring the load down it looks as though I’ll have to give up on the idea.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
I’ve been looking at getting solar panels fitted to a 30m x 20m steel framed shed with timber purlins and tin sheet roof. I’ve paid £1k for a structural survey that tells us that the purlins are not strong enough and that they would need doubling up to support the extra load as they might buckle and fail under worst case snow and wind scenarios.
The existing purlins are 75x225mm and span 5.70m. The plan was to put 2 rows of 16 panels across the width of the roof however it now looks as though is not possible as the additional weight is going to take it to 20% over capacity.
I believe this is to comply with the strict MCS regulations and I have been told that if I get them fitted by a company who is not MCS compliant and don’t get a MCS certificate then our insurance would be invalid or if we were to sell the farm we’d have to prove that the panels had been installed to MCS standard.
How do other farms completely fill their shed roof with panels?
Apart from looking at a ground fixing solution or installing less panels to bring the load down it looks as though I’ll have to give up on the idea.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.