Design Snow Loads for Ground Mounted Solar Panels

Michael O'Rourke, P.E., Ph.D., has been a professor of civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute since 1974 and professor emeritus since 2022. He authored dozens of articles on snow loads and several guidelines and chaired the ASCE 7 Snow and Rain Loads subcommittee responsible for rain and snow load provisions of ASCE 7-98, 7-02, 7-05, 7-10, and 7-16.Patrick D. Kalush is a Ph.D. student at The Ohio State University studying some applied uses of fiber reinforced polymer bars in concrete. During his undergraduate studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he focused on snow loads, particularly unique loading applications in solar panels.Michael Klug, P.E., S.E., received his Bachelors of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering from Cardiff University in Wales, UK. He spent the first decade of his career applying structural engineering principles in support of traditional building design and in the last 12 years has focused primarily on the renewables industry, specifically mid- to large-scale, ground mounted, solar photovoltaic installations.Michael Faraone, Ph.D., P.E., earned his Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from the University of Florida, researching geostatistics and reliability-based design for deep foundations. He has served as the director of engineering for Terrasmart in renewable energy and currently serves as the head of geotechnical engineering at the Bridge Software Institute at the University of Florida.