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Photo: Unirac
One mounting company challenged passers-by at a recent tradeshow: “How fast can you build our racking system?” Other companies built systems for attendees, with speed and determination, on mock rooftops. And time lapse videos, showing a whole array going up before sundown, are almost a booth staple, like free pens and candy.
Come tradeshow season, marketing departments develop many ways to prove, or suggest, that their mounting system installs faster than the rest. The swiftness of mounting installation has been a key selling point for manufacturers for some time.
Of course, it would defy physics if every system was the fastest to install. Yet the stakes have been raised. Pressure from financiers to bring down costs and deliver a project on-time and on-budget is changing how systems are built. Robust systems are simplified for ease of installation as much as cost.
Manufacturers touting systems with “just three components,” or a similar message, are actually commenting on the time it takes to install it.
For a large roof-mount array, logistics (specifically, how many pieces laborers must sift through to build a rack) can be as important as the product itself. One major mounting manufacturer even guarantees the time required to install its flat roof products for all first-time partners.
“It’d be interesting to have a run-off—maybe three racking suppliers building their product out in a field and compare times, which would validate folks’ claims, but I don’t know if that’s something that is achievable,” said Thomas Meola, president and CEO of Solar FlexRack.
Indeed, an authoritative source for how long systems take to build is missing. To fill the gap, some mounting manufacturers have enlisted third-party testing labs, such as DNV GL or Industrial Timestudy Institute, to perform detailed installation analysis, including time-to-completion, of mounting systems.
“Having a clear understanding of time required and cost associated with commercial flat roof installations is vital when it comes to accurate project timing,” said Marcelo Gomez, marketing director at Unirac. “Offering information up front allows people to not inflate numbers, such as lowering total installed cost and erroneously making the project more attractive to developers.”
Inaccuracy in the solar industry is a death knell, and having verified, unbiased information about the installation of a particular system is important. Time studies also offer information to the manufacturer about how a system came together, which can spur product improvements.
But not everyone is sold about the validity of time studies. One manufacturer called time studies simply “marketing.” No two studies are created alike, and conditions at an actual installation site can vary widely.
Solar contractors need to take any information they receive from manufacturers and do their own research to understand how best to use provided data—or whether to use it at all.
