Friday, October 09, 2009 at 11:11:37 AM - by Danny Vo

Typically, solar panel installation is tedious and time-consuming – one of the reasons the cost of solar doubles when you want to put it on your roof.

Roof installation mandates cutting the rails (which come in lengths like 204 inches and 240 inches), and then splicing them together to match the length and width of the solar panels to be installed, with an equally cumbersome array of nuts, bolts, mounting hardware and specialized tools.

Then there’s the problem of grounding the panels and the rails, according to local and regional code, to prevent your roof (and yourself) turning into a Christmas display in the event of a short or power surge.

Unirac and Prosolar have provided solutions to reduce the number of parts, which also reduces installation time, but up to now no one has found a way to remove the rails themselves, which – given their sometimes unwieldy length – are expensive and difficult to ship. Transporting to the job site in a contractor’s vehicle is even more difficult.

Enter ZepSolar, a newly formed solar panel mounting manufacturer offering a system (or series of systems) to mount panels to roofs without rails. From LM (flush-mounting via an adjustable-height L-bracket), to FM, designed for flush mounting solar panels to shingle roofs via an adjustable-height flashed assembly, the system of tapered channels and specialized interlocking, leveling and grounding “feet” mean ZepSolar has it covered.

The Zep system is reportedly six times faster than conventional rail mounting, and offers the added advantages of reducing material waste (no more 8-inch rail pieces left over) and increasing the structural integrity and appearance of roof-mounted solar arrays.

Systems also offer theft-resistance, provided via specialized hardware (dare I say nut, bolt and U-ring fastener) and a locking wrench whose size and configuration would be hard to duplicate in a machine shop, let alone on the fly.

ZepSolar will launch its revolutionary product for use with solar modules made with Evergreen Solar laminates, or PV cells that are electrically interconnected and laminated. These thin, polysilicon solar laminates are made by what Evergreen calls it String Ribbon™ technology, which the company says is akin to making a soap bubble. The process involves liquid silicon and two parallel high-temperature filaments, between which the silicone adheres and solidifies.

ZepSolar will be showing its patent-pending system at the Solar Power International trade show in Anaheim, California, from October 26-30, and will reportedly fully commercialize its product in the first part of next year.