Located on the northernmost tip of Key Largo in the Florida Keys, Ocean Reef Club is one of the country’s most comprehensive private club communities, offering 1,700 waterfront estates, private homes, condominiums and an oceanfront inn. Recently, solar metal roof panels were added to the roof of the club's 6,400 sq. ft. reverse osmosis water plant. It was a project more challenging than it sounds, and one that involved attachment products from S-5!.

Ocean Reef offers a vast array of leisure amenities, including a 175-slip mega-yacht marina for boating, fishing and diving; two 18-hole championship golf courses; world-class tennis and lawn sports; jogging and cycling paths; and unlimited children’s activities and programming. The self-contained community also features its own fully staffed medical center; full-service spa and salon; gourmet grocery store; cooking school; nature center; cultural center; veterinary care center; dining and shopping options; an independent pre-K-8th grade school; as well as its own private airport. The water plant's proximity to the airport runway—it was just 150' away—had to be considered in planning the rooftop solar array, as did the south Florida locale's susceptibility to hurricane-force winds.

To ensure the sun's reflection off the glass solar panels would not be an issue for pilots or air-traffic controllers, a glint and glare analysis was required during the project's planning stages. The findings and resulting action items from this assessment would ensure the safety of the project from a sun reflection standpoint. But there was still the issue of high winds. Key Largo is bounded on three sides by water and is subject to 180 mph, Category 5 hurricane winds, making installation of a low-profile, roof-mounted system essential.

Utilizing the only south-facing roof available, the project's EPC Contractor, SALT Energy, installed the latest technology, high-efficiency SunPower A-Series 440W modules to maximize the solar output in the space allotted. The modules were secured to the Dean Steel Buildings Rib-12 metal roof using the S-5's PVKIT®2.0 and RibBracket™ III clamps.

The chosen S-5! solution is simple, effective and versatile. The system's fully engineered design provides three to five module clamps per side depending on wind zone of the roof, with six to 10 points of attachment per module. It has 15% of the dead load of rail mounting, and offers more uniform wind load distribution to the roof structure, which makes the assembly ready for any Category 5 Hurricane challenge. The chosen system also met the transportation concerns related to the project. Whereas a truck and flatbed trailer would have been required to bring in mounting rails for the panels with a traditional railed system, the clamps needed for the entire project collectively weighed just 240 pounds and fit in the trunk of a passenger car.

The solar zone of the building's 2:12 pitched metal roof measured 40' x 80'. It required 530 units of the PVKIT®2.0 components and 530 RibBracket™ III clamps to complete the installation.