Insights
The solution melts snow and safely drains the meltwater, enabling solar installations on buildings with limited roof load capacity.
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When solar power systems are considered for existing buildings, the roof’s load-bearing capacity is always part of the assessment. In the article Solar panels on the roof: Can the building handle the load – and the snow? we explain how solar panels and snow loads affect roofs, and why a structural engineer (RIB) must assess the load-bearing capacity before installation.
In some cases, the structural engineer concludes that the roof is not designed to handle today’s snow loads. In such situations, snow melting can be an effective solution.
When snow load is identified as the limiting factor, snow melting technology can make it possible to install solar panels without reinforcing or rebuilding the roof structure.
The technology sends electricity back to the solar panels, causing them to emit heat and melt the snow before the load becomes critical. Sunday Power offers snow melting solutions in partnership with EnergiSmart (formerly Solcellespesialisten).
“We developed snow melting because many buildings have plenty of roof space for solar panels, but limited load-bearing capacity. The goal was to find a simple way to manage snow loads without rebuilding roofs. By using the existing infrastructure, we let the panels do the work themselves when snow accumulates,” says Carl Christian Strømberg, founder of EnergiSmart.
Developed by EnergiSmart (Solcellespesialisten), delivered by Sunday Power.
The snow melting technology has now been deployed at Snipetjernveien 9, owned by Bulk Industrial Real Estate. During a heavy snowfall, approximately 20 cm of snow melted within 24 hours. The meltwater was safely drained from the roof, helping to reduce the load on the structure.
The timelapse video shows the result after 24 hours.
Want to explore whether snow melting could be relevant for your building? Get in touch.
