When Sierra Pacific Power engineers planned installation of 410 solar panels atop the roof of the company's transportation services building in Reno, they needed to consider a specific northern Nevada challenge:
High winds that could rip the panels from their moorings.
Kelley Johnson, who engineered the project for the utility, says the photovoltaic panels are installed to resist 120-mile-an-hour winds.
The solar panels on the building at 295 Edison Way also are tilted 10 degrees toward the south, increasing their efficiency by about 10 percent, Johnson says.
The panels are expected to generate about 75,000 watts of electricity, enough to meet half the electric needs of the building.
The project was installed by Premier Power Renewable Energy of Eldorado Hills, Calif. NNBW staff
