By resigning from a photovoltaic installation on the ground in favor of a roof installation, first of all, we do not involve any additional space. This can potentially be used for other types of development. We also exclude the fulfillment of all land requirements, which we have described in detail on our subpage What kind of land for PV farms?
We also eliminate the likelihood of building additional transformer stations, which is associated with additional costs and the need for additional land. The construction of additional transformer stations most often takes place in the case of greater distances between the generating source and the place of its connection to the network.
In the case of roof installations, shorter cable lines with smaller cross-sections are designed, which has a direct impact on their price. In the case of roof installation, the following elements are also dispensed with:
- Geotechnical research
- Fence, lighting and video surveillance,
- Heavy equipment for driving the structure and making trenches at the construction stage.
At the stage of operation of the installation, the costs related to:
- Property and land tax
- Cutting the grass
- Security
Each roof installation forces the adaptation of the structure to the additional load which is the structure and photovoltaic modules. Therefore, nowadays, in newly constructed buildings, installation is often included already at the design stage.
There are two main types of roof structures on the market: ballast and mechanically fixed to the roof.