When it is working, this setup is a 7 kW solar plant feeding a house from a pitched corrugated metal roof. Power flows through an indoor inverter unit, with the smart meter housed in an outdoor electrical cabinet. On first start an initializing message appeared and the green power indicator lit up, a satisfying moment for any self-made challenge.
The whole thing was put together by the maker's husband, with a friend helping only to start the inverter. Twelve panels sit in two parallel rows on four horizontal mounting rails across the slope. Stainless hanger bolts with rubber gaskets were secured through the ridges, aluminum rails were aligned with a tape, a level and wrenches, and mid-clamps and end-clamps fasten the panels down. DC cables run in conduit and flexible tubing under the ridge cap and down interior walls, with MC4 connectors crimped and seated into the inverter terminals. Makita cordless drivers and drills did the roof work, and a digital multimeter checked voltage along the way.
A couple of choices stand out to me. Cables entering through the ridge cap look like a tidy touch on this kind of roof, and buying in stages rather than as one kit, inverter first, seems a patient way to spread the spending. The panels were also lifted manually, which on a pitched metal surface takes some nerve.
The open point is the fixing method: which brackets really suit this corrugated roof, and whether the long rail screws are the right call, stayed unanswered. A future plan adds another 3 kW on a terrace roof not yet built. That leaves clear room to grow.
Project by Valdas Kopūstas. Watch it on their YouTube channel: