McElroy Metal, Inovateus Solar form roofing and solar power partnership

SOUTH BEND, USA: McElroy Metal and Inovateus Solar have formed a roofing and solar power partnership to provide specification, engineering and installation solutions for large standing seam roofing projects incorporating solar.

McElroy Metal, a major manufacturer in the standing seam roofing industry, has been in the roofing business since 1963. Inovateus Solar is one of the fastest growing, full-service solar distribution/integration firms in the Midwest.

Kenneth Gieseke, vice president of marketing for McElroy Metal, explained his company's natural attraction to this greener technology that led to the partnership with Inovateus Solar.

"Metal roofing is a perfect medium for green building and solar energy installations for many reasons. Metal roofing is a completely recyclable material—it is manufactured initially with a high percentage of recycled metal and can then be reclaimed again at the end of its service life. Metal roofing has excellent reflective capabilities to keep cooling costs down and has a long service life that can reach decades," said Gieseke.

Gieseke went on to explain that McElroy's customer base in the metal roofing industry has a burgeoning interest in solar power. His roofing customers understand that solar is coming into the marketplace as a sister industry to roofing. McElroy contractors that have been in the roofing business for a long time now recognize solar as an opportunity for new profits.

"One of the advantages of working with Inovateus Solar is that they have such a wide variety of solar technologies we can offer our customers. Flexible photovoltaic panels installed with standing seam roofing products will be a large part of the business but we are also interested in offering crystalline solar to our customers," said Gieseke.

McElroy Metal will be pairing its Medallion-Lok, 16-inch-wide standing-seam roofing panel with the Inovateus Solar, Uni-Solar product for building integrated PV solutions. For crystalline solar power solutions, McElroy can incorporate any number of Inovateus solar panels into standing seam roofing, such as its Maxima, with the use of the S-5 clamp system.