Any snow retention system is a life-safety and property protection application. If the system were to fail, tons of snow could suddenly be released onto anything below, threatening personal safety and property. For this reason, any system should be appropriately engineered to the specifics of the project to ensure that it does not structurally fail. Surprisingly, few (if any) vendors who manufacture provide adequate technical data to do this. 

Standing seam metal roofing (SSMR) is the most convenient of any roof type for mounting PV modules, either crystalline or thin-film. The seams of SSMR are beam-like elements that not only add stiffness and flexural strength to the roof panels, but also provide expedient attachment points for a PV system. Joining PV modules to this roof type can be done with or without continuous mounting rails using aluminum seam clamps.