The Town of Tecumseh, a forward thinking municipality, was seeking to establish itself as an early adopter of the green power generation under the Ontario Feed-In Tariff Program. The Town of Tecumseh is one of the four municipal shareholders of Essex Energy’s parent company, Essex Power Corporation. It is also very active in various power conservation efforts, as evidenced by its recent award as winner in its category of the Ontario Power Authority’s “Power Pledge” initiative. With these efforts in mind, the municipality determined that a PV array should be installed. It became obvious that the Tecumseh Arena was the logical choice to play host to the PV system as it is the largest municipal rooftop area available in the town, and is also the town’s single largest user of electricity. The arena operates two ice surfaces for hockey, figure skating, public skating, etc. on a year-round basis, requiring a massive amount of power to maintain the ice, HVAC equipment, lighting, etc.
The array was commissioned on October 21, 2010, and is currently the largest operational rooftop array in Canada. Over 6,000 of the S-5! U Mini clamps and PVKITs were utilized to complete the installation, all without a single roof penetration and without voiding the roof warranty (which was an important concern for the town). The S-5! products provided the town with a very cost-effective system, which is of primary importance when developing public projects.
Between S-5!, the panel manufacturer, and Essex Energy’s engineers, a unique design was implemented. A 14” walkway was incorporated between every second row of panels, while still maximizing the number of panels installed. The walkways allow for easy navigation without having to walk across panels, facilitates easy roof inspection and maintenance, and essentially make every panel easily accessible.
Flexibility in the application of S-5! products was key in allowing this design consideration. Their lightweight, low cost, and ease of installation afforded the project tremendous savings and improved economic and financial performances across the board.
-David Cozens of Ball Construction testifies
In terms of power savings, the array will offset roughly 35% of the power consumed by the facility. This does not take into consideration any of the expected thermal efficiencies gained as a result of the sun hitting the panels, as opposed to the exposed roof. This could be substantial, particularly in the warmer months because the panels will provide shade to the arena, lowering the amount of power needed to keep the facility cooled. According to Calibani, “Rob and the rest of the S-5! team are tremendously knowledgeable and very helpful; we look forward to using their products in future installations. The S-5! products are hands down the best option for metal roof installations.” His team plans to use the same products for two other similar municipal rooftop projects in LaSalle, Ontario and Amherstburg, Ontario.
The pre-assembled PVKIT® used in rail-less solar PV mounting can save you in logistics and installation time. It is compatible with all S-5! clamps and most brackets. It fits all 30-46 mm module frames and offers multiple slots for wire management.
The S-5-U clamp ("U" is for Universal") accommodates most standing seam profiles in North and South America. The clamp offers multiple hole orientations for both horizontally and vertically-oriented double-folded seams.
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