Dutch Stadium Collapse Due To Solar Panels

In mid-August 2019, the roof of the Alkmaar football stadium collapsed. At the time, most Dutch media reported that the solar panels on the roof may be the main cause of the accident. The accident did not cause any casualties, because the venue was idle.

Team General Manager Robert Nhun announced that he will immediately investigate the matter. Now, eight months have passed since the accident, the Dutch engineering consulting firm Dehewei Group has finally released the investigation results. The company made it clear that the cause of the roof collapse was not the solar panels.

Dehewei Group pointed out in the investigation report that the local collapse of the roof of the AFAS stadium was caused by the loose connection of the steel beam on the top of the stadium. The report also mentioned that the strong wind during the local storm was the fuse that caused the accident. The company explained that the welding of steel beams on the roof of the stadium is a key issue.

"The welding of these joints is too thin, which has reduced the bearing capacity of the steel beam by at least 50%," the company's report denied the conjecture that rooftop solar panels were generally believed to have caused the collapse, and further stated, There is a problem with the design of the beam. Other reasons that were believed to have caused the collapse did not play a big role in this accident. "

Susten Klei, head of the photovoltaic wind load department of German Power Industry Research Co., Ltd., told "Photovoltaic" magazine in August that the roof collapse should be blamed on erroneous design calculations.

"I have taken a quick look at the news feed," he said at the time, "And, I never think that solar panels are the root cause of the roof collapse event caused by the storm. If the roof steel beam structure design is reasonable, the calculation is accurate, and consider When it comes to the constant load of solar panels, photovoltaic panels are simply not the cause of the collapse. "

Cray cites a large number of scientific publications on embedded photovoltaic panels. These publications show that the parallel solar system on the roof does not increase the static wind load on the roof.

Editor: Kiko Lee

E-mail: kiko@wanhos.com