C25 - Collecting Rainwater Falling on Solar Arrays

Roll-A-Rack is a ballasted, low-profile, gutter-like solar racking system that is produced on site using portable roll-forming technology. Its gutter-like design can harvest rainwater falling on the array.

Climate change is disrupting weather patterns with devastating effect. Water scarcity is adversely affecting farming on historically prime agricultural land. Traditional sources of irrigation water--underground water and reservoirs and lakes--are severely depleted. There is also a conflict for land use between agriculture and solar power. There are no existing solutions that address both irrigation and clean energy at once.

If farmland is equally divided between crop farm area and a Roll-A-Rack rainwater harvesting solar farm that stores the water for subsequent irrigation, rainfall for the crops is effectively doubled. In some areas there is too much rainfall. A water harvesting solar racking system can mitigate run-off water management for ground-based solar arrays by channeling heavy rainfall to intermediate storage,
to be slowly released after the storm.

Roll-A-Rack was initially developed with commercial flat-roof building in mind and possible ground-based installations for landfills and brownfields that would benefit from a ballasted system. But its gutter-like design that harvests rainwater opens new possibilities for solar array water management