Solar Distance From Edge Of Roof

60mm gap 120mm from roof edge 70mm gap 140 mm from roof edge etc.

Solar distance from edge of roof. Five times the distance between the modules and the roof surface. Often if your roof has 2 sides only one is getting solar and my local department allows one side to be edge to edge if the other is empty. The international fire code 605 11 3 2 4 that states panels modules installed shall be located no higher than 3 ft below the ridge to allow for fire department ventilation operations significantly decreases the attractiveness of residential solar pv because it applies to both sides of a peaked roof. Panels with a minimum distance between the panel and roof edge of 2s where s is the gap between the underside of the panel and the roof surface.

The reason for this clearance is that it allows air flow under the solar panels for cooling them. So if you have a 50mm high gap between panel and roof 100mm minimum distance panel from the roof edge. However roof mounted solar installations must also be more than 30cm away from the external edge of the roof meaning that actually you will need an even larger space so this needs to be factored in to any roof sizing calculations. Hi not sure if you found the answer but in the publication planning and installation photovoltaic system 2nd edition p276 7 2 1 it states in order to reduce the wind load the array should be a sufficient distance from the edge of the roof rule of thumb.