Deciding it was time to downsize, Bruce Goode, a retired cattle ranch owner and airline pilot, purchased a small, 8-acre equestrian estate in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. On that property, which has spectacular mountain and lake views of the Okanagan Valley, he built a 3,500-square-foot multi-purpose barn, topped with a crisp, black metal roof that serves as a mounting platform for an impressive looking 28.35 kW PV solar panel array. Securing the panels to the roof is a penetration-free mounting system from S-5!.

Goode’s barn features a spacious main floor that includes a workshop, tack room and riders’ lounge. The upper floor loft area is open and is used as a hunting lodge/cowboy shack-themed retreat and entertainment area, complete with taxidermy mounts. It includes a hobby/work area for gunsmithing and another area for exercising.

The orientation of the barn—with its ridge line running due east/west—and decisions about the roof were made with the solar power generation in mind. The desire was for the rooftop array to be able to provide 100% of the electricity needed for the entire ranch property. Given the system was expected to have an effective 25- to 30-year service life, it made sense to choose a roof type that would meet or exceed that life span. By deciding to go with a standing seam system formed from 24-gauge SMP-painted metal from Cascadia Metals, the owner met that goal and also got an attractive, fire-resistant roof, which is a bonus given the property’s location with a forest interface area.

The solar array’s 90 individual panels are mounted on the barn’s south-facing upper and low roof surfaces. They are attached directly to the metal roof’s standing seams using the S-5-PVKIT^® 2.0 solar mounting kit—with black components to match the black anodized PV frames. The S-5 solution eliminates the need for rails and provided a simple, secure, economical and penetration-free method for attaching the solar modules.

The barn is big, with a significant portion of its roof 8:12 pitched. To ensure large chunks of snow or ice can’t release suddenly off the steep-sloped metal roof surfaces, possibly injuring someone or damaging something below, the black metal roof has also been fitted with S-5!’s X-Gard™ 2.0 pipe-style snow retention system. Like the solar mounts, the snow retention system features penetration-free attachment to the roof, so there’s no possibility of it contributing to rook leaks or affecting the metal roof warranty.

“Our multipurpose barn was designed and constructed to withstand time and elements in a challenging western Canadian environment,” explained Goode. “The barn was built with the exclusive use of durable, weatherproof, fireproof and low-maintenance materials. To maximize the longevity potential of the barn's roof, we chose a standing seam metal roof, which achieved our sustainability goals. The metal roof is performing exceedingly well, easily withstanding the heavy snow loads expected in British Columbia, and it provides an excellent platform for mounting the 90 solar panels, which are directly attached using the S-5-PVKIT 2.0 rail-less, solar attachment solution to the entire south-facing surfaces of the roof. I am confident the barn will provide trouble-free enjoyment for our family today and for many generations to come.”

So far, the decision to go with solar power has proved a good one, and homeowners in other areas would likely see similar incentives to use.

"In British Columbia, our public utility offers full credit for any excess energy produced through a net-metering program for grid-tied systems,” said Stephen Russell, owner of Roost Solar, Canada. His company installed the solar system. “Essentially, this means our customers can “store” all excess solar energy for use at night or during the winter when solar generation is reduced.  This 90-module, high-efficiency array is anticipated to produce more than 30,000 kWh per year and cover 100% of the property’s annual electricity usage. The system has been operational for a little over 5 months now, and to date, the system has outperformed our expectations.”

The barn’s timber frame engineering and design was by Marcus Weiss and Daniel Kilchenmann of European Timberframe Corporation. The general contractor was Woodstyle Homes.

Artisan Roofing Ltd. handled the forming and installation of the 24-gauge Cascadia Metals Black SMP-finished standing seam metal roof. The 20”-wide roof panels, featuring 1-1/2” high ribs, were run out on a New Tech Machinery SSH, SS150 portable roll former.