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TECHNICS

Roof & Frontage

SOLAR TECHNOLOGY FOR INSTALLERS | PLANNERS | ARCHITECTS

SPECIALIST ARTICLE OF PHOTOVOLTAIK /

TECHNICS | Roof & Frontage

„The quality is steadily getting better“Assembly — On flat roofs the piece of work is still done very sloppily. Now PMT inspects and ap-

proves the plants themselves. The managing director Peter Grass explains why, and which advanta-ges these additional expenses imply An interview

Does only the price play a role or have reliability and quality become more important?Some markets are pushed more by the price than others. In some of the newer markets there is simply a lack of experience regarding the risks. Neverthel-ess, one can feel throughout the increasing wants for safety and quality. Planners, but also authorized experts want to know it for certain. What has been tested, how does the software work, which para-meters have been considered and which safety do the manufacturers guarantee? The bigger the pro-jects the more critical are the involved parties and the higher the need for a maximum of safety.

ria we could realize some projects in the Mega Watt range together with our partner Wimplin-ger Sonnenstrom. Successfully won tenders of relevant size in Luxembourg, Italy and Scandina-via make us optimistically.

Where does this interest come from?The EVO 2.0, which we presented at the Inter-solar, can be mounted very quickly and is very well-priced. We optimized the system aerodyna-mically with the result of very good ballast data. Thus, many a project is technically realizable and some markets easier to approach.

How did the year 2018 go for Premium Technologies (PMT)?Peter Grass: We had a sales increase of 140 percent. If you take the price cuttings through the laun-ching of the EVO 2.0 also into consideration, we nearly triplicated the volume put on the market.

Has this been a result of the cut-down of government sponsorship, which is mainly related to your business segment, the big roof plants?We already doubled our sales in the first three quarters compared with the previous year. Gi-ving priority to other projects, due of the cut-down of sponsorship, did even cause a higher demand and thus ensured sales more than twice.

This possibly might go for the account of this year`s de-mands. Which growth do you expect for 2019?In 2018 we already doubled the annual sales for the 3rd time in series. And even in the first quar-ter of 2019 we have our sales more than doubled compared with the same quarter last year. Our intention for 2019 is, to crack the benchmark of 400 Megawatt new projects only with flat roof systems.

Are you doing business mainly in Germany or are there other countries on the way?The rate in Germany is round about 40 percen-tage, however with declining evaluation. Apart from that, there are constantly good markets like Switzerland, where we can note a continuous-ly growing demand together with our partner Tritec. A market, developed over the last years which is now really exploding, are the Nether-lands with extraordinary projects between one and 50MW in the roof area; project dimensions which meanwhile became scarce in Germany.

Are there new markets?We meanwhile have projects in countries where we have not been busy so far. In Poland we are delivering a plant of 6,8 Mega Watt in cooperati-on with our partner Goldbeck Solar, in the Czech market we are starting with dozens of chain stores of the discounter Lidl and also in Aust-

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Peter GrassIs the managing director of Premium Mounting Technologies (PMT) in the Franconian Rugendorf. The company has specialized in industrial flat roofs.

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How do you react to these demands?We do what we are doing for years with our sys-tems: more tests, more research!We are very technically driven and safety comes always before an economic decision. To fulfill these needs beyond the product itself, we have added two more components: the system PMT Proof and accredited assembly partners!

What do you mean by “accredited assembly partners”?What I could ascertain as technical expert during many surveys is that many sub-constructions of different manufacturers are often erected inade-quately. One reason for that is that the mounting of the systems is difficult in detail and, on the other hand, the sub-contractors are faced with different systems every day.

Thus, mistakes are always creeping in… Of course, there are different systems, high time pressure, a lack of knowledge regarding the con-sequences of deviating from the assembly inst-ructions or the project planning and so on. The cost pressure especially hits start-up enterpri-ses and leads to high risks in the overall project. From this, we came up with the idea of building up an accredited assembly partner!

How did it then come about this assembly partner?It resulted in a project cooperation in the Nether-lands. We were requested to evaluate the moun-ting performance of an installation company for our sub-construction. After the third or fourth project the installation was perfect and faultless. If only all plants would look like that!

It is an advantage for you that your systems are quali-tatively better mounted?An accurate and precise installation according to the PMT specifications is a benefit for all involved parties. We, as the manufacturer, know that our safety demand is not endangered by deficits in mounting. The EPC can supply an utmost quali-ty to their customers and, insurers, banks and in-vestors bear only little remaining risk.

Do you offer this everywhere?Our premium assembly partner Solartechnik Dresden (STD) has meanwhile more than 150 fit-ters, who are, without exception, all trained on our systems by PMT. The lads are on duty Europe-wide and provide the assembly “Turn-key DC”, in-cluding anti-fall guard, lifting equipment, removal and so on. However, apart from the typical assem-bly, they also offer services like measurement by drone, string plans or something like that. And its covered twice by the PMT-Proof system.

What is secreted behind the PMT-Proof system?It`s a three-steps process, which guarantees the maximum possible safety of a project and we can combine it with a warranty extension of up to 20 years instead of primarily 10 years. The first stage focusses the planning parameters. For each project we let prepare a wind tunnel exper-tise. We hand in the data about location, the ob-ject, pictures of the surrounding area, building density and other relevant parameters. The IFI assesses the location, building height and profi-le, topography and surrounding buildings. Out of these parameters, IFI calculates the precise wind load for the building in question. This value is ba-sis for the planning of the project.

Do we here talk only about the wind load or are there further assessments?In addition to that we determine the static and the sliding friction coefficient on the roof. For this purpose, we make at least three tests per roof surface under wet and dry conditions, using our High-Tech protection mat, our configura-tions and our measuring method. We add a sa-fety factor to the ascertained static friction coef-ficient which will then be fixed as coefficient for the worst case on this roof. Additionally, we pro-ve the static pressure resistance of the insulation on the roof, to avoid long-term damages already in the first place.

You are planning the plant this way?Initially, our assembly partner provides us with a roofing list that contains all marginal parame-ters like building height, roof inclination, modu-le data and all other relevant information. Using these parameters, we design the plant in our software, which has been externally verified to its overall accuracy. Afterwards, an external en-gineering company in Coburg checks again the complete causal chain. They verify whether the determined parameters have been really imple-mented, whether the static friction has been cal-culated correctly and whether the specifications given by the IFI have been consequently trans-lated.

How long does this process last?Maximum one week. You need most of the time to move your partner to take the static friction coefficient on the roof. But our assembly partner can do it as well when taking the quantity survey for the roof before the assembly.

Now, we have a clean planning. What`s the second stage?This is a theoretic and practical training of the project partner. We offer this as a package also for all other assembly partners. I.e., half a day of theory and half a day where the assembly teams mount the systems in practice. We show them

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During the acceptance Peter Grass intimately checks the erected substructure.

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TECHNICS | Roof & Frontage

what matters during the installation and the fol-lowing acceptance and which typical mistakes were made in the past. If the installation is car-ried out by our premium partner STD, this step obviously does not apply.

The acceptance of the plant is the third step. How do you proceed?We start with a reconnaissance drone flight of the whole complex, where we verify whether the lay-out of the complex has been generally adhered to, the distances have been maintained as planned, be it to disturbing objects, border areas and edges or the plant components among each other. This has a decisive influence on the ballasting and thus on the stability of the plant. Then we patrol each single area of the plant on the roof.

What do you check at this step?We check whether there are all components and whether they are installed correctly. We check whether everything is locked in place and all click connections are shut, whether the spe-cified torques have been maintained and we check hundred per cent whether the planned ballasting has been deposited. A lack of ballast or different ballasting is a common and dange-rous mistake.

Do you expect the whole plant? This is very time-con-suming at a plant with numerous Mega Watt.We first make spot samples at the critical zones of the plant like the corner regions. Should we find a failure, we check the entire construction.

If there is something odd about it, the faults ru-nout through the whole system. In this case, we check everything in detail.

How long does such an acceptance take?Talking about a plant with seven Mega Watt, you are quite busy one week. Our controllers cope with around one Mega Watt per day, depending on whether it`s a roof with uniform, periodic blocks, or whether we are talking about different parts of buildings with cliffy fields. Mostly, we start the check right before the end of the buil-ding activity when the assembly team is still on location. So that they can immediately mend it.

What is the price?Step one costs all in 950 Euro per roof and 350 Euro for every additional roof. The training can be booked for 550 Euro plus travel expenses. The costs for the acceptance depend on the size of project. In most of the cases it won`t be more than 1 Euro per module in total for the complete process. It`s a bar-gain if you think of the additional value!

How much staff do you have for the acceptances?At present, there are two employees in charge of it. However, due to the great demand, we are going to expand the team. Possibly, we will even train local teams in the future, which will take on the acceptance for us on location. I think that`s the right way and many partners voluntarily take up on it. All involved parties profit by lasting and well-constructed projects and invest willingly a few cent more for a long-term safety. •

The interview was conducted by Sven Ullrich.

G www.pmt.solutions

: “We are very technically driven and safety comes always before an econo-

mic decision. To fulfill these needs beyond the product itself, we have added two more components: the system PMT Proof and accredited assembly partners!”

Peter Grass

Will the plant be accepted in the end?At first, we issue an acceptance report for the as-sembly company and the planner with the re-quest of remediation if failures were found. Sub-sequently, there will be a review, or, for minor shortcomings, a written confirmation of the re-medial actions. Only then, we will hand out the PMT-Proof certificate for the plant. Together with all other planning contents this certificate is part of a comprehensive technical construction file. This steadily guarantees that the entire plant has been installed according to the planning specifi-cations, the standards in force and our assembly guidelines. If the plant has successfully passed the PMT-Proof system, the warranty period will be extended to 20 years!

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Failures are listed and the fitters get a printout to rectify the deficiencies.

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