SOLON Corporation, one of the largest providers of turnkey solar power plants and photovoltaic (PV) products in the U.S., has announced it has accelerated shipping its award winning SOLquickTM commercial rooftop system to the U.S. market.
SOLquick’s innovative design integrates a frameless solar module and rack into one unit for a fast, easy and tool-free installation. SOLquick’s lightweight frame, weighing less than 2.8 pounds per square foot, features Fibrex® material from Andersen Corporation.
Fibrex material is a non-conductive wood and thermoplastic polymer composite that is moisture and heat resistant, with more than 18 years of proven outdoor durability and reliability.
Commercial installers are responding to SOLquick’s ease-of-use and unique attributes, with more than 5,000 SOLquick units, totaling over 1.5 MW, currently being installed across the country.
In June, Arizona installer Solar H20 & Electric completed the installation of 160kW SOLquick units on a high school in Tucson, AZ.
Over 900kW is currently being installed on two national retail chain stores in New Jersey by Connecticut-based commercial integrator Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC. By the end of September, 270kW will be installed on a cold storage facility in Oregon by Energy Wise, one of Oregon’s top installers and investors in solar energy. SOLON is also currently installing 151kW of SOLquick units on its own rooftop project for Deer Valley High School in Phoenix, AZ.
"With SOLquick, we saved over two weeks of labor costs compared to the traditional racking system we originally planned on using for this job,” said Jim West, President of Solar H20 & Electric. “This allowed us to free up our manpower for additional concurrent projects.”
The SOLquick product can be installed at a rate of 15 units per man hour with simple module-to-module connection. Rapid installation is possible because the units require no assembly, grounding, or tools for installation. The system ships fully-assembled and direct to the work site. Initial SOLquick flat roof time studies proved to reduce mechanical installation by up to 85 percent and electrical installation time by 50 percent.
“SOLON is committed to delivering complete solutions to the solar market that provide our customers with a cleaner choice in energy generation and usage at a lower installed cost,” said David Goldman, Vice President and General Manager, Solar Products for SOLON Corporation. “By selecting SOLquick, system designers are able to standardize around one simple design, installers greatly reduce the time and cost associated with installing the system, and end customers begin generating grid-competitive energy more quickly from a high-quality, trusted industry brand.”
At the end of 2011, SOLON introduced the SOLquick system at the Solar Power International Conference in Dallas, TX. In June of this year, the product received the 2012 Intersolar AWARD for photovoltaic innovation, and will be showcased at Solar Power International in booth # 3210 in Orlando, FL this year.