St-Isidore
Municipal Arena

DATES

October 2010 to August 2011

DESCRIPTION

Installation of a 120kW electricity production system.

PARTNER-INSTALLER

Reynald Dion Consulting & Services Inc. (RDCS)

THE CHALLENGE

St-Isidore’s arena building posed many complex challenges for our solar development team. The roof surface had some very significant slopes and no structural drawings were available to help determine its load-bearing capacity. Further, the building’s electrical supply entry did not have the capacity to accommodate any additional energy load. Inside the building, the arena’s electrical room did not comply with the latest building code.

To face these multiple challenges, Rematek Energy first performed an in-depth analysis of the building structure. This confirmed that the roof and its support beams could indeed support the additional weight of the panels but it also identified a hidden defect in that many of the old wooden support beams had significant traces of rotting which would have caused problems even without the addition of a solar PV system. The municipal council were very appreciative of this finding and rapidly proceeded with the replacement of the affected beams.

We also developed a roof-top PV support system that optimized the slope of the panels and asked the city to intervene and authorize Hydro Ottawa to replace and increase the load capacity of the building supply entrance. As for the electrical room, it was substantially modified and brought up to code.