ROI of Installing Solar on Metal Roofing and Real Life Case Studies in Canada

With the cost of solar decreasing significantly over the last decade, in addition to a host of ongoing tax incentives driving the popularity of solar, the breakeven and return on investment improves every year – evident even more with solar on metal roofs because of lower installation costs – so it makes even greater financial sense and is expected to stimulate the growth of metal roofing in Canada. The metal roof is the ideal host for mounting solar photovoltaics (PV) and is the only roof type with a service life that exceeds the service life of a PV system. With this in mind, solarizing metal roofs across Canada can go a long way to achieving environmental goals. Not only is a metal/solar roof system less expensive upfront than other roof+solar system combinations, but it’s also likely to result in a significantly higher lifetime, return-on-investment. The uniqueness of metal roofing is that the structural ribs or seams act as inherent (and cost-free) “rails” providing a rail-less, direct-attach system, so no extra rails are needed. An added benefit is the sustainability of metal roofing. At an 98% recycle rate, steel is one of the most recycled construction materials available―never destined for a landfill. Therefore, solar metal roof attachments enable installation on most aged roofs without roof replacement. With lower material, labor and shipping costs, the rail-less attachment solution is proving to be a “green” innovation in both the solar and roofing industries. Production of rail-less systems saves an estimated 90% of the energy used to produce rail mountings and 85% of carbon emissions in transportation.