COMPANY I OVERVIEW
INNOVATIVE SUPPORT
In order to remain competitive, solar photovoltaic (PV) installers are continuously looking for ways to cut installation costs; both with improved hardware and with faster installation. Nora Hendrickson, Solar Engineering Consultant at norizz solar design and Tom Hood, CEO and Founder of Giga Solar FPC describe current U.S. residential trends and innovations in solar mounting hardware for sloped-roof, and introduces a new concept in PV module and support structure design.
2013 was a record-breaking year for the U.S. solar industry, with a 41% increase in the number of total installations. 2014 is on track to be another record-breaking year of solar growth, and there is a continued strong focus on cost reduction. Module prices have come down dramatically over the past few years, and it is not clear that additional large cost reductions can continue, and therefore the emphasis is now on cost reduction in the balance of systems (BOS).
As an example, in 2012, the solar market was introduced to the idea of using microinverters to create AC output at the module level. It seemed that every major module manufacturer was in some stage of contemplating or developing an AC module. The initial idea behind AC modules was to allow for solar installations on roofs that have shading issues. In just a couple of years AC modules using microinverters have become commonplace in the
residential market. The benefits of AC modules are three-fold: flexibility in system design, reduced installation risks and, lastly, increased overall system efficiency. All of these benefits result in lower installed systems cost.
Although microinverters are not in and of themselves lower cost than the junction box and series inverter hardware, the introduction of AC modules has lowered the on-the-roof installation time by 30 percent. The time spent in the factory to combine microinverters with the solar modules is a significant cost savings that has reduced installers’ operating expenses, and ultimately the system price for the homeowner.
As mentioned, innovation for solar rooftop systems is now focused on the balance of systems (BOS) hardware along with installation labor and soft costs (i.e. permitting, inspection, etc). Much of this activity is centered on the development of low-cost, durable racking solutions that are easy and fast to install.
Current racking hardware characteristics Rooftop solar installations can be both tricky and time consuming due to the complexity of current mounting and racking hardware, along with the unique characteristics encountered with each roof. Currently, residential solar racking hardware consists of field-assembled parts that are attached to the homeowner’s roof. Available racking hardware is compatible with many different types of solar modules, but most of the hardware is not
Left: Figure 1: EcoFasten’s simple design with few parts (Source: EcoFasten)
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www.solar-international.net I Issue IV 2014
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