The focus of the current study is the wind loads on a 11.92 m section of parabolic trough collector with an aperture of 5.76 m, located in Beijing, PR China. This paper presents selected results of full-scale field measurements of wind loads and wind pressure on the solar collector. The field data such as wind speed, wind direction and wind pressures are simultaneously measured from the solar collector. The measured data are analyzed to obtain the information on boundary layer wind characteristics, wind pressures and wind loads on the solar collector. The results presented in this paper are expected to be of considerable interest and of use to researchers and engineers involved in analysis and design of parabolic trough solar collectors. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.