La Corona Soap Factory Installs 539 kWp Rooftop Solar System in Mexico City

The EVA Mexico project used S-5! PVKIT® and RibBracket™ III to mount solar directly to a 257,795-square-foot exposed-fastened metal roof.

LOCATION Mexico City, Mexico

INDUSTRY Commercial

CUSTOMER "La Corona" Soap Factory

PRODUCT CERTIFICATIONS ICC-ES | IAPMO / UES (Solar) | UL 2703 | ULc | UL 3741

The Challenge

The primary challenge was to ensure the alignment of the solar panels and to accurately determine bracket placement on the roof. Because it is an exposed-fastened, trapezoidal metal roof profile, it was critical to get the spacing of the brackets precise from the start. This type of roof requires fastening brackets directly into the roof, an irreversible process. Any deviation of bracket placement could result in a large gap further down the road, which would interrupt panel installation. (Fortunately, S-5! brackets have slotting mounting attachments, so small errors are forgiven.)

Project Stats

“La Corona” Soap Factory in Mexico City, Mexico, is a large-scale manufacturer of soaps, detergents and cooking oil with multiple locations throughout Mexico and a distribution network in North America, the Caribbean, Central and South America. Because of the power required to run its main 257,795-square-foot manufacturing facility, La Corona identified the need to supplement the factory’s power generation by adding solar photovoltaics (PV) to its exposed-fastened metal roof.

539 kWp

Total solar PV system

3,600

RibBracket III attachments

3,600

PVKIT

The Solution

Installation resources, provided by S-5!, made it easy for EVA Mexico to determine the best spacing and proceed with the install. Once the spacing was determined and the installation began, the team was able to move much faster. S-5!'s RibBracket III, specifically designed for this roof profile, and the PVKIT solar solution, allowed for direct-attach or railless PV mounting to the metal roof. A rail-less approach to solar mounting provided a significant reduction in the amount of material required vs. a traditional rail mounting system. It also meant the 1,400 PV panels could be directly-attached to the ribs of the exposed-fastened metal roof, providing ease of installation. S-5!’s user-friendly products assisted in the overall ease of completion of the project.

50 %

Reduced costs

50 %

Faster installation time

85 %

Lighter than rails