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Installation Methods of Roof-Mounted PV Supports and Their Advantages & Disadvantages

2025-10-13

I. Cement Counterweight Method

1.1 Cast-in-place Cement Blocks

This is the most common installation method, which involves pouring cement blocks on the cement roof.

Advantages: Stable; does not damage the roof waterproofing.
Disadvantages:
- Requires a large amount of manual labor.
- Time-consuming: The cement blocks need more than a week of curing time, and the supports can only be installed after the blocks are fully cured.
- Requires a large number of prefabricated molds (for cement forming).

1.2 Prefabricated Cement Counterweights

Advantages: Relatively time-saving compared to cast-in-place cement blocks; prefabricated cement counterweight blocks can be customized in advance, eliminating the need for cement embedded parts.
Disadvantage: Low installation efficiency.

II. Steel Structure Connection

Flange plates are installed at the bottom of the support columns, and several support arrays are connected using galvanized section steel. Each unit typically covers a capacity of 500KW or even 1MW and above. The self-weight of the support array is used to enhance wind resistance, so only a small number of cement blocks need to be made at the roof’s load-bearing points to fix the large support arrays.

Advantages: Quick and easy to install; easy to disassemble.
Disadvantage: High cost—The cost of the supports is no less than 1 yuan per watt.

III. Chemical Anchor Bolts

For factory buildings with precast floor slabs (which have high load-bearing capacity per unit area), a 5cm-thick cement layer can be laid on the roof first, and then the supports are fixed using chemical anchor bolts. Drilling will not damage the roof waterproofing. Currently, this method is only used in a small number of domestic projects, and its service life remains to be verified.

Advantages: Non-expansion anchoring; simple construction; cost-saving.
Disadvantages: Poor heat resistance—It becomes ineffective at high temperatures; welding is not allowed.

IV. Direct Bonding with Two-Component Rebar Glue for Special Power Station Installation

Advantages: Time-saving and labor-saving; reduces the need for columns.
Disadvantage: High cost.

V. Clamps for Color Steel Tile Roof Supports

There are three common types of clamps for color steel tile PV supports: vertical lock seam type, angle lock type, and ladder type.

For vertical lock seam and angle lock color steel tiles, special aluminum alloy clamps are mostly used to fix the support guide rails (by leveraging the wave crests of the color steel tiles).
The service life of color steel tiles is about 10–15 years, and their load-bearing capacity is 15–30kg per square meter. Most installations adopt a flat layout, while a small number use an inclined layout.

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