New in-roof PV system design from India

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From pv magazine India

New Delhi-based Ornate Solar has commissioned India’s largest building-integrated rooftop solar system in Bhagru, Rajasthan. The 530 kWp InRoof system will help Canada-based natural stone manufacturer Pangaea Natural Stone to meet its net-zero goals by offsetting 18,346 tons of CO2 emissions.

The system serves as the primary roof over Pangaea Natural Stone’s newly constructed production facility. It covers a total roof area of 35,000 square feet, thereby saving 124,968 kg of CO2 that would have been emitted in the production of the steel roof.

Ornate Solar designed, engineered and manufactured the system in India. It was subjected to 18 months of tests before commercial deployment. The company claims that its InRoof system is the industry’s first universal structural solution to integrate panels of any shape and size to replace conventional metal roofs.

“InRoof PV can replace metal sheets traditionally used as roofing for industrial factories and can serve as a PV integrated roof,” Ornate Solar Director Aditya Goel told pv magazine.

The InRoof system features microinverters from Enphase Energy. The microinverters come with a 15-year replacement warranty and are aligned with the highest international safety standards.

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Canadian Solar supplied 1,175 high-efficiency mono PERC solar panels to generate energy and act as an integrated roofing element, replacing trapezoidal sheets. The indigenously developed InRoof structure consists of special-purpose roll-formed continuous (SRFC) sections made from a high-strength steel alloy resistant to corrosion and oxidation.

Anodized aluminium profiles provide two-layer protection against water ingress and distribute the static loads of the PV panels across the building purlins. Precision-engineered structural members have been used to build walkways and ridge profiles that interlock seamlessly with the PV panels and ensure a 100% guarantee against water leakage.

“Roof-integrated solar systems designed with [our] proprietary architecture can accommodate 26% more solar panels than traditional roof-mounted systems and have shown to generate over 4% to 8% more energy, due to free air circulation which lowers module backsheet temperatures by up to 15 C,” said Goel.

The InRoof system can also be used for solar parking lots, canopies and facades. Existing parking spaces and sheds can be retrofitted easily with the InRoof components compatible with most prefab steel structure designs.

The company has invested in manufacturing the required components at its production facility in New Delhi. It is also developing a plug-and-play version of the InRoof system for premium residential households, which can be installed on terraces and balconies. It is expected to hit the Indian market by December.

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