Under CopyrightRomer, PascalPascalRomerPethani, Kishan BharatbhaiKishan BharatbhaiPethaniBeinert, AndreasAndreasBeinert2023-06-142023-06-142022Note-ID: 0000960Ahttps://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/442766https://doi.org/10.24406/publica-146210.4229/WCPEC-82022-3DV.3.2710.24406/publica-1462In contrast to the IEC 61215, in real life applications PV modules must withstand inhomogeneous load distributions, for example caused by wind. This work investigates the wind effects onto a PV power plant, containing ten rows with 40 modules each, using computational fluid dynamics simulations coupled to a mechanical finite element method model. The paper focuses on the impact of three factors on the mechanical stability of a PV power plant, namely: Module orientation, wind direction and module inclination angle. A crosswind scenario is found to be most critical. Furthermore, higher module inclination angles result in higher stresses. Finally, general thermomechanical rules are extracted allowing for a deeper understanding of the underlying effects, and therefore help to build more robust PV module installations in the future.enFEMCFDWindsimulationPV Modulemechanicsconference paper