Modelling Stormwater Runoff Changes Induced by Ground-Mounted Photovoltaic Solar Parks: A Conceptualization in EPA-SWMM

Gullotta, Aurora; Aschale, Tagele Mossie; Peres, David J.; Sciuto, Guido; Cancelliere, Antonino

doi:10.1007/s11269-023-03572-3

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Hydrus-3D results with and without solar arrays at each of the five experimental sites showed that runoff increased by 14% with arrays present. While a similar result was obtained by Nair et al (2023) for solar arrays installed on a site with a 23% slope, Gullotta et al (2023) stated that there were no differences in runoff between sites with or without solar arrays. Their SWMM modeling indicated that changes in soil texture had a larger impact on runoff than changes in vegetative cover (as controlled by the Manning's n factor).…”

Section: Comparisons Between Hydrus-3d Modeling Of Solar Farm Runoff ...supporting

confidence: 70%

“…Recently, two other studies have conceptually explored modeling of stormwater runoff from solar farms using the concept of disconnected impervious surfaces (Gullotta et al, 2023;Nair et al, 2023). Both studies conducted runoff modeling with US Environmental Protection Agency's storm water management model (SWMM).…”

Section: Comparisons Between Hydrus-3d Modeling Of Solar Farm Runoff ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter results are consistent with those from the present study, though they arise from completely different modeling approaches. Neither the Nair et al (2023) nor the Gullotta et al (2023) modeling studies were able to account for impacts of changes in soil depth or soil bulk density on runoff. In the present study, a comparison of runoff from 100-year storms of similar magnitude at New York and Oregon (Figure 4) showed that the shallow silty clay loam soils at New York had roughly double the runoff of the clay soils at Oregon, indicating that soil depth has a large impact on solar farm runoff.…”

Section: Comparisons Between Hydrus-3d Modeling Of Solar Farm Runoff ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring and modeling soil moisture and runoff at solar farms using a disconnected impervious surface approach

Mulla,

Galzki,

Hanson

et al. 2024

Vadose Zone Journal

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Ground‐mounted photovoltaic sites are often treated as impervious surfaces in stormwater permits. This ignores the pervious soils beneath and between solar arrays and leads to an overestimation of runoff. Our objective was to improve solar farm stormwater hydrology models by explicitly considering the disconnected impervious nature of solar design and site characteristics. Experimental sites established on utility scale solar farms in Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon had perennial vegetative plantings with mean precipitation ranging from 40.6 to 124.5 cm, and soil texture ranging from loamy sand to clay. Soil moisture measurements were collected beneath arrays, under drip edges, and in the vegetated area between arrays at each site. Hydrus‐3D models for soil moisture and stormwater hydrology were developed that accounted for precipitation falling on solar panels, drip edge redistribution of rainfall, infiltration, and runoff in the pervious areas between solar arrays and beneath panels. Drip edge runoff averaged 3‐ to 10‐times incident precipitation at the New York and Minnesota sites, respectively. Root mean square error values between measured sub‐hourly soil moisture and predicted moisture for large measured single storm events averaged 0.029 across all five sites. Predicted runoff depths were strongly affected by precipitation depth, soil texture, soil profile depth, and soil bulk density. Runoff depths across the five experimental sites averaged 13%, 25%, and 45% of the 2‐, 10‐, and 100‐year design storm depths, clearly showing that these solar farms do not behave like impervious surfaces, but rather as disconnected impervious surfaces with substantial infiltration of runoff in the vegetated areas between and beneath solar arrays.

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Section: Comparisons Between Hydrus-3d Modeling Of Solar Farm Runoff ...supporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Comparisons Between Hydrus-3d Modeling Of Solar Farm Runoff ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Comparisons Between Hydrus-3d Modeling Of Solar Farm Runoff ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Measuring and modeling soil moisture and runoff at solar farms using a disconnected impervious surface approach

Mulla,

Galzki,

Hanson

et al. 2024

Vadose Zone Journal

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show abstract

Research on Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Optimization Scheduling Based on Optimization Technology for Complex of River Network Structures

Luan,

Hou,

Wang

et al. 2024

Water Resour Manage

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Stormwater runoff calculator for evaluation of low impact development practices at ground-mounted solar photovoltaic farms

Galzki,

Mulla

2024

Discov Water

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Estimating runoff at ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) installations is challenging because of the disconnected nature of impervious solar panels and the pervious ground surface underneath and between panel rows. There is a need for improved tools to estimate how low impact development practices at these solar installations affect stormwater runoff. The objective of this study was to develop an innovative spreadsheet-based runoff calculator that rapidly estimates stormwater runoff from ground-mounted solar PV sites. The calculator is built on a 2-D hydrologic model (Hydrus-2D/3D) calibrated and validated using experimental data from five commercial solar farms in Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon. The Hydrus-2D/3D hydrologic model was then used to generate nomographs for stormwater runoff that were incorporated into an easy-to-use Excel-based solar farm runoff calculator. This calculator allows for rapid estimation of NRCS stormwater runoff curve number (CN) values at solar farms by considering several complex factors unique to PV installations including: soil and topographic characteristics, surface cover, disconnected impervious surface factors associated with various solar panel designs, and climatic factors. The solar farm runoff calculator quickly estimates runoff CN for pre- and post-construction scenarios, and can estimate actual depth of runoff based on a user-specified 24-h design storm depth. Factors that have the most significant impact on stormwater runoff include design storm return frequency, soil texture, soil bulk density, and soil depth. Ground surface cover has a moderate impact on stormwater runoff, and factors that have a lesser impact on stormwater runoff include slope and array size, spacing and orientation on the landscape. The runoff calculator allows for accurate estimates of runoff generated by disconnected impervious surfaces and low impact development practices at solar farms as affected by a wide range of site-specific conditions.

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Modelling Stormwater Runoff Changes Induced by Ground-Mounted Photovoltaic Solar Parks: A Conceptualization in EPA-SWMM

Cited by 5 publications

References 27 publications

Measuring and modeling soil moisture and runoff at solar farms using a disconnected impervious surface approach

Measuring and modeling soil moisture and runoff at solar farms using a disconnected impervious surface approach

Research on Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Optimization Scheduling Based on Optimization Technology for Complex of River Network Structures

Stormwater runoff calculator for evaluation of low impact development practices at ground-mounted solar photovoltaic farms

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