Solar Southwest Florida

S-5! Clamp

After years of seemingly nothing but tile roofs being installed in Southwest Florida, metal roofs are getting popular again. The longevity, durability, and energy efficiency of metal roofs are great selling points, and they look great, coming in many profiles and colors.

The metal roof is known for protecting roofs against leaks, and minimizing penetrations is very important for roof warranties and customer peace of mind. There is an aluminum clamp called an S-5! that attaches solar panels to the standing seam of metal roofs without penetrating the metal.

The strength of these clamps is amazing. Test results on many roof profiles indicate that they can withstand wind uplift exceeding 1,000 pounds per clamp in many cases. Depending on the wind loads in our particular solar panel design, enough clamps  can be used to ensure a safe and effective solar panel attachment. With required design wind speeds in Southwest Florida ranging from 120 mps – 150 mph, wind uplift is an important design factor.

Of course, it is important that the metal roof is installed properly, and meets the requirements of the panels that will be mounted on them. If the roof panels are installed to meet the 2007 Florida Building Code, it is almost certain that there will be no issue with using S-5! clamps. Older installations should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Typical S-5 Attachment Design

The clamp comes in a variety of shapes and sizes to meet the requirements for just about every metal seam profile. There is even a clamp that allows you to attach a solar electric module directly to the metal seams without the use of aluminum rails. However, this clamp is incompatible with new microinverter technology because microinverters must have something on which to mount.

While the S-5! clamps do not work on some metal roofs, like those with 5V or sinusoidal profiles (corrugated metal roofs), the standing seam metal roof profile is quickly becoming popular around the area on both homes and businesses. If you have a metal roof and don’t want to penetrate it to attach solar panels, take a look at S-5! clamps!

Fafco Solar has installed lots of Canadian Solar photovoltaic modules, and now the company is improving its already great warranty. New solar panel buyers will get a 10 year workmanship warranty (up from 6) and a 25 year linear power guarantee.

Many module manufacturers offer a 10 year 80% power output guarantee and 25 year 90% guarantee. Canadian Solar was on par with this standard, but the linear warranty guarantees that you will now have at least 97% of rated output after one year, with only 0.7% degradation each year after that. This is a great upgrade that more and more companies are offering as the reliability of photovoltaic modules is proven in the field.

Canadian Solar takes the warranty one step further and has purchased insurance from an AM Best rated insurer to guarantee that the warranty will remain in place even if the company does not.

Since Canadian Solar is currently right in the sweet spot for “dollars-per-watt” efficiency, this new warranty makes the brand a great buy at this time.

UPDATE: Paul Coughlin from groSolar sent me this Comparison of top module manufacturer warranties. It highlights Canadian Solar’s pioneering insurance coverage.

http://www.solarsouthwestflorida.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/PV-Module-Warranty-and-Warranty-Insurance-Comparisons-White-Paper-Sept.-2011.pdf