August: First of Many Boulder Public Buildings Planned To Go Solar
Bella Energy’s ground-mounted solar electric system survives class F3 tornado.
Project of the Month: June 2008
Windsor Tornado No Threat to Strong Residential Solar System 
Bella Energy’s ground-mounted solar electric system survives class F3 tornado.
Windsor Tornado No Threat to Strong Residential Solar System
Team Comments
Homeowner
“We get a lot of wind out here so at first I wasn’t sure the systems would hold up. But after the storm I had to say to Bella Energy that they were right. Those panels didn’t blow away even in a tornado! Our power from the utility grid is down because the tornado took out the electricity poles, but the solar systems were still in operation.”
Adam Bowen
Bella Energy Project Engineer
Bella Energy Project Engineer
“The storm’s power and the damage it did were intense. Sure it was an adrenaline rush but it was really scary for a few minutes there! And loud! Three inch hail stones make a lot of noise!”
Bella Energy’s ground-mounted solar electric system survives class F3 tornado.
The largest residential solar electric system in Colorado is still standing after a Class F3 tornado blew through Northern Colorado on May 22. Tornados are rated 1-5, with 5 being the strongest.
The property has three 10 kilowatt systems, made up of 170 panels at 30 kilowatt each. The ground-mounted structures held up to 150 mph winds while telephone poles nearby snapped like toothpicks. And no flying panels either! Solar panels tipped at an angle can catch the wind like a sail, but these remained intact, producing power.
This 160-acre homestead is about 10 miles outside of Windsor, Colorado, the storm’s epicenter. On May 22, a Class F3 tornado left a three-quarter-mile-wide, 35-mile-long path through Windsor, a town of 16,000 residents, 70 miles north of Denver. Approximately 750 homes and businesses were damaged.
With the tornado came hail. Bella Energy uses panels with solar glass that is designed to stand up to one inch hail stones, so unfortunately one of the 10k system’s glass shattered when hit by huge baseball-size hail stones at 150 mph. This type of glass breaks into small rectangles like automotive glass and it stayed broken in the framing instead of spreading everywhere. Fortunately, the panels are still under warranty.
Bella Energy staff was on the property during the storm and took shelter at the house only a few feet from where the storm flattened a flagpole to the ground.