Schletter Canada, a manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) mounting systems supplied the mounting system used in Team Canadas entry in the Solar Decathlon taking place now in Washington D.C. Team Canadas entry, called the Technology Residence, Traditional Living (TRTL) or Turtle is a collaboration of Canadian First Nation and Team Canada, designed to create a sustainable home meeting the cultural living requirements of the First Nation people.
Schletter manufacturers a product for residential flush mount systems, which was used on this design, but with some atypical requirements, says Wolfgang Fritz, vice president of engineering with Schletter.
Fritz goes on to say, Because of the unique roof design, to achieve a rounded look as well as a deep overhang, and high snow loads much of Canada experiences, Schletter collaborated with Team Canada to create a system that met both form and function. In the end, we are very confident of the structural integrity of the finished product as well as its esthetics.
As usual, Schletter did the design legwork to make the rack fit the project, not the project fit the rack, says David Vonesch of SkyFire.
The entire PV system was pulled together by SkyFire Energy in Calgary and the dedicated Team Canada students in Calgary where special consideration of optimizing module energy production was achieved through micro inverters on each panel, allowing for multiple module angles in one system. This unique design created the buildings rounded roofline.
