Preventing and Mitigating Flood Damage to Solar Photovoltaic Systems
Like impacts from other weather and environmental forces (e.g., hail, wind, snow, wildfires), flood damage can often be prevented or at least mitigated through simple, no- to low—cost measures. The following technical recommendations can be added to project specification requirements of a new system or used to assist in planning for a modification to an existing solar PV system.
This webpage covers flooding topics related to on-site ground or elevated systems (e.g., solar PV canopies) for both new and existing systems. Though the lessons learned may also be applicable to utility-scale (large) systems, this content focuses on topics related to smaller on-site systems.
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Even in severe cases such as large coastal floods from hurricanes, these mitigation measures can reduce the amount of damage that results from a severe flood event. In some cases, mitigation measures can make the difference between a total loss versus repairable damage.
Total Submersion
Any components for a solar system that have been submerged will need to be replaced and this includes the module, inverter, switchgear, meters and other hardware.