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- Leigh Fowkes, Director, Northern Renewable Group
The Solomon Islands, situated within the Coral Triangle to the northeast of Australia, is a nation of six major islands and more than 1,000 smaller ones. Renowned for its marine biodiversity, the country also serves as a growing hub for trade.
In the capital region of Honiara, a British American tobacco company operates both a cigarette manufacturing facility and an office/ warehouse used for administration and product storage.
Seeking to reduce overall energy costs and support sustainability objectives, the company opted to offset its energy consumption by going solar. The primary objective was to decrease dependence on grid electricity by transitioning the factory and office to solar power during daylight hours, which would lower overall electricity costs, promote clean, renewable energy and reduce its carbon footprint.
A 243-kW rooftop solar system was designed, supplied and installed across two buildings, each featuring complex Dutch-style roofs with multiple orientations.
The project presented several significant challenges. First, each building featured distinct cladding systems and broad spacing between the C section purlins, making a traditional rail-based mounting system unsuitable. Further complications arose from uneven or misaligned sections, necessitating a flexible mounting system to ensure proper alignment and a secure installation.
Rooftop obstructions—including ventilation units and antennas—created additional constraints for module placement. Despite these limitations, the system needed to maintain a clean, professional appearance, as the site is prominently visible from a busy main road. With large-scale solar systems still relatively uncommon in the Solomon Islands, the installation was likely to draw attention and therefore needed to be visually unobtrusive and well-integrated.
The factory maintains high and consistent electricity demand throughout the week, with annual site consumption estimated at 340 MWh, which includes both day and nighttime usage. The use of consumption monitoring at the main switchboard helped determine the correct system sizing.
Given the tropical climate characterized by frequent cloud cover and high annual rainfall, as well as projected growth in energy demand from planned factory upgrades, the system was intentionally oversized to ensure reliable long-term performance.
To meet these complex requirements, Northern Renewable Group collaborated with S-5! to deliver a customized mounting solution: the PVKIT® DirectAttach™ rail-less system paired with S-5! brackets tailored for each roof profile. This system provided a secure and flexible method for fixing solar modules across both buildings, regardless of cladding type or roof orientation.
The rail-less design offered several advantages. It eliminated the risk of roof leaks, simplified the installation process and maintained structural integrity—an ideal match for the coastal environment.
Because the PVKIT solution fixes directly to roof seams or ribs, it offers unmatched flexibility in module placement around roof irregularities and spacing challenges, while satisfying strict coastal structural rating requirements.
Logistically, the compact design of the S 5! system led to dramatic freight and handling savings. All materials were shipped and air freighted from Australia, and the lightweight parts reduced freight costs by approximately 90% compared to traditional rail mounting. Additionally, when installers identified the need for additional brackets, they were quickly air freighted in compact packaging to avoid costly delays.
In areas where the roof was not perfectly straight, the modular flexibility of the S-5! system allowed for adaptable module placement without compromising aesthetics or performance. This was especially important for a project in a high-visibility location. The system’s clean and organised layout contributed to a professional appearance, further demonstrating the advantages of modern, rail-less mounting technology over more traditional methods.
The PVKIT solar system is expected to offset 60% of the facilities’ energy consumption, significantly reducing grid dependency and operating costs, while advancing the company’s sustainability goals.
