FastRack510 dramatically reduces commercial solar project installation time while increasing reliability with new materials
Today Sollega, a leading manufacturer of commercial flat-roof PV solar racking, introduces a new light-weight ballasted hybrid roof-mount solution in partnership with BASF, one of the largest global suppliers of plastics. The new FastRack510 (FR510) is manufactured with the advanced plastic Ultramid®, engineered to weather extreme rooftop conditions, and weighs only 4.5 pounds.
The FR510's lightweight material and streamlined design reduces overall project costs while maintaining system reliability.
As equipment costs for solar projects fall, soft costs play a more prominent role in determining solar system prices. According to a recent National Renewable Energy Laboratory study, soft costs are now the largest component of commercial solar project pricing, primarily driven by labor and supply chain costs.
"Commercial installers are very focused on soft costs so we designed the FR510 to simplify the installation process and meet strict new codes and flammability standards like UL 2703," said Elie Rothschild, CEO of Sollega. "The FR510 significantly cuts down installation costs and time with its universal one-piece, stackable design. It arrives at the project site fully assembled and accommodates any type of module at 5 and 10 degree tilt angles."
The lightweight, one-piece, stackable design simplifies project logistics by keeping part counts low and enabling half a megawatt of racking materials to fit in a standard 40-foot-long shipping container. The new FR510 is an improvement over the proven FastRack5 by reducing weight and increasing fire resistance while maintaining the simple design.
"Ultramid® from BASF has been used for over 40 years in very demanding applications, like automobile components, where it maintains its strength for years even after it's exposed to rain, chemicals, sunlight, and vibrations," said Hung Pham, Solar Market Manager at BASF. The glass-reinforced nylon with built-in UV inhibitor allows for each mount to hold over 200 times its own weight and retain its strength despite intense weathering over the lifetime of the product.
"When we're installing multi-megawatt projects, it's important to keep the parts count low and reduce steps whenever possible without sacrificing performance," said John Hostetter, VP of Engineering at REC Solar. "As a leading project developer working across the country, we need solutions that work for our clients from New York to Hawaii. We have partnered with Sollega on select projects because of their high quality and ease of installation."
