b'Solar It Is Time for the Roofing Industry to Embrace Rooftop SolarBy Brian J. Whelan and Rocco GerhardtThe following article originally ap- ing,procurementandconstruc-peared in the September 2023 issue oftion)andvarioussubcontractors IIBEC Interface and is reprinted here(who may know very little about with permission. roofingbesidesthefactthatitis M anyofusintheroofingthelocationwheresolarequip-industry have been broughtment will be installed). Addition-upbelievingitisbesttoally, in cases where the owner does minimize the amount of equipmentnot own the solar array, a financing and penetrations on a low-sloped roof.company may be involved. Repre-Rooftoppenetrationsarecommonsentatives of financing companies sourcesofleaks,andequipmentontendtofocusonthereturnon the roof leads to additional rooftopinvestment and likely do not have trafficandpotentialfordamagetoexperienceincommercialroof-the roof. A rooftop covered by solaring projects. Everyone involved is panels can be a scary proposition fortypically focused only on their own manybuildingowners,theirfacilityareasofworkandresponsibility, managersandroofingprofessionalsand not necessarily on the project (Fig. 1). as a whole. Similar teamwork and Therearevalidreasonsforthiscommunicationchallengesmay fear:rooftopsolarhashadacheck- arise in cases where owners of very eredhistory.Inmostinstances,thelarge properties have one team with rootcauseforrooftopsolar-relatedin-houseroofingexpertiseanda issues was a lack of teamwork and in- separate energy team. The energy sufficient communication among theteam may not decide what type of parties involved in the project. Thesesolar energy system to install until partiesincludethebuildingownertheroofisalreadyinstalled,and (who typically does not have a lot ofroofing problems can occur if the roofing expertise), the solar developertwo teams do not collaborate. Hir- Figure 1: Rooftop solar project. Photo courtesy of Centroplan.(whose expertise will be in engineer- ing a Registered Roof Consultant 24ONTARIO ROOFING NEWSISSUE 3 2023 THE ONLY SOURCE FOR PROFESSIONAL ICI ROOFING CONTRACTORS IN ONTARIO ORN'