Installations in a Finnish winter. Yes, we install in the wintertime, but there are a few rules to that.
Types of roof
Concrete tile roof (pantiles) – The weather has to have been above zero for a few days, otherwise those tiles won’t move and stand a good chance of breaking.
Metal profile tiled roofs – If the roof is not too steep (above a 20 degree angle) it can be cleared of snow, the same goes with metal machine locked, or standing seam roofs.
Work safely
Even if we can’t work safely on the roof, there’s plenty of ground work can be done, installing the inverter and safety switch, routing the cables into the house and preparing everything for when the Solar panels are able to go on the roof. A number of installations were completed that way, while keeping a weather eye out for the rare occasions when enough snow melts to be able to carry on the roof work.
Talking about safety, the installation crew always wear safety harnesses and lines, hard hats and protective clothing, you just can’t be to careful. They know exactly what they are doing and are not afraid to “call off” if the safety of themselves, customers, property, or equipment is in any doubt at all.
Winter conditions
Many people ask about snow loading affecting the solar panels and mounting system. We use only RAULI fastening systems, specifically designed and manufactured in Finland and the panels themselves are also built for the winter conditions here, so there is no need to be concerned about a large amount of snow on them.
Our experience of snow on solar panels
We have a system installed at home and have seen about 1/2 a metre of snow on them, which brings me to the final thought for this post. Don’t bother cleaning the solar panels of snow, it’s not only dangerous if you are climbing on the roof, you risk damaging the solar panels if you use the wrong tools and the benefit is pretty minimal. Last year, purely for the science and the gathering of factual information, I cleared the solar panels every time it snowed. Two to three hours of hard work for about 100Wh of electricity in 24 hours, you do the maths!