Solar Shingles Make a Great Roof, Not Just Free Energy

1. Solar Roof Tiles

Solar shingles combine the benefit of solar-generated electricity with the reliability of traditional roof shingles. If your customer is considering a solar photovoltaic (PV) system but isn't crazy about the look of conventional solar panels, solar shingles might be the right fit for them. Solar shingles can be used as the primary roofing material, or they can replace conventional shingles in specific areas of the roof.

. The actual cost of solar tiles is $42 per square foot including materials and labor. But that’s before accounting for the money you’ll save from energy generation over time. When you factor that in, you arrive at the estimate of $21.85 per square foot. Also of note, not every shingle on your roof will be solar-enabled. Some will be inactive.

Solar Shingles as the Primary Roofing Material

While flexible, or thin-film, solar roofing of the past had to be installed over a separate roofing material, today's solar shingles are rigid materials that serve as shingles themselves. In other words, you install them in place of other roofing, not on top of other roofing. This means that a roof could be covered almost entirely with solar shingles, although this would be quite expensive.

Cost of Solar Shingles

It is most cost-effective to install solar shingles when replacing an old or damaged roof or during new house construction. This is because tearing off good shingles to install solar shingles means you lose the remaining value of the original shingles. As of August 2018, Tesla, the leading manufacturer of rigid solar shingles estimates the cost of solar shingles at about $22 per square foot, installed. At this price, the total cost of a new roof of solar shingles is about 33 percent higher than a comparable roof with conventional shingles and standard solar panels.

Additionally, the roof of solar shingles may produce about 30 percent less electricity than its conventional counterpart.

Solar Shingle Benefits

The primary benefit of solar shingles, aside from the electricity generation, is their appearance. When viewed from the street, a roof of solar shingles can look very similar to a standard shingled roof. Solar shingles also come in several different styles that can mimic clay tile and slate as well as conventional asphalt shingles. A much lesser-known benefit of solar shingles is that they are extremely tough because they are protected by a layer of quartz glass. This makes solar shingles one of the toughest roofing materials available.

Solar Shingles Power Generation

Solar shingles can be used for both grid-tied and off-grid PV systems. Grid-tied systems are connected to the local utility's power grid and can deliver excess electricity onto the grid. In some areas, homeowners can receive credits or payments for this excess power. Grid-tied systems rely on the grid for operation, so they don't work when there's a power outage.

Solar Roof Tiles

Off-grid systems do not connect to the power grid and use the solar-generated electricity to charge a large bank of batteries. The home (or other building) draws all of its power from the batteries. Grid-tied systems are most common in rural or remote areas where grid connection is difficult or unavailable.

With both types of PV system, the solar shingles generate direct current (DC) power, which is then converted to alternating current (AC) power via a power inverter for use in the home. The overall size of the PV system—and therefore how much area of the roof is covered with solar shingles—is typically based on the household's annual electricity usage and how much the homeowners want to offset their utility-provided power with solar power.

Solar shingles, also called photovoltaic shingles, are solar panels designed to look like and function as conventional roofing materials, such as asphalt shingle or slate, while also producing electricity. Solar shingles are a type of solar energy solution known as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).

There are several varieties of solar shingles, including shingle-sized solid panels that take the place of a number of conventional shingles in a strip, semi-rigid designs containing several silicon solar cells that are sized more like conventional shingles, and newer systems using various thin-film solar cell technologies that match conventional shingles both in size and flexibility. There are also products using a more traditional number of silicon solar cells per panel reaching as much as 100 wattsDC rating per shingle.^[1]

Solar shingles are manufactured by several companies^[2][3] but the three main manufacturers of solar roof shingles are RGS Energy, SolarCity, and CertainTeed.^[4] Other active companies in the US include SunTegra Solar Roof Systems,^[5] and Atlantis Energy Systems (asphalt and slate systems).^[6]

History[edit]

Solar shingles became commercially available in 2005.^[7] In a 2009 interview with Reuters, a spokesperson for the Dow Chemical Company estimated that their entry into the solar shingle market would generate $5 billion in revenue by 2015 and $10 billion by 2020. Dow solar shingles, known as the POWERHOUSE Solar System, first became available in Colorado, in October 2011. The POWERHOUSE Solar System continues to live on in its 3rd generation iteration, and has exclusively been licensed to RGS Energy for commercialization.^[8] In October 2016, Tesla entered the solar shingle space in a joint venture with SolarCity.^[9]

Description[edit]

Solar shingles are photovoltaic modules, capturing sunlight and transforming it into electricity. Most solar shingles are 12 in × 86 in (300 mm × 2,180 mm) and can be stapled directly to the roofing cloth. When applied they have a 5 in × 86 in (130 mm × 2,180 mm) strip of exposed surface. Different models of shingles have different mounting requirements. Some can be applied directly onto roofing felt intermixed with regular asphalt shingles while others may need special installation.

Some early manufacturers used solar thin-film technologies, such as CIGS to produce electricity, which are less common in the solar industry than silicon-based cells. Current manufacturers, such as RGS Energy, CertainTeed, and SunTegra, have chosen to use the industry-standard monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon solar cells in their POWERHOUSE 3.0, Apollo II, and SunTegra Shingle, respectively. The installation methods for some solar shingle solutions can be easier than traditional panel installations because they avoid the need to locate rafters and install with a process much more similar to asphalt shingles than standard solar panels.

Solar shingled roofs tend to have a deep, dark, purplish-blue or black color, and therefore look similar to other roofs in most situations. Tesla Solar has developed shingles in several styles to better match traditional roofs.^[10] Homeowners may prefer solar shingles because they avoid having large panels on their roofs.^[11] Coming in 2018 Tesla will offer shingles in slate and Tuscan styles, these are the first of the solar shingles which look the same as a slate or Tuscan style roof but still provide solar power.^[12] They also have been 'Test video for the highest (class 4) hail rating, filmed at 2,500 frames per second. Each 2' hailstone is travelling 100 mph on impact.' which shows how these new options are also safer in disasters than tradition materials.^[12]

Cost[edit]

The cost of solar shingles can range from $3.80 per watt up to $9.00 per watt installed depending on the manufacturer, technology used, and system size.^[13] As of May 2019, the average cost of a traditional, roof-mounted residential solar panel installation in the United States was just above $3.00 per watt, according to the Solar Energy Industry Association.^[14] While solar shingles are typically more expensive to install than traditional solar panels, some companies in recent years since 2014 have made strides to lessen the gap between the installed cost of going solar with panels versus going solar with shingles. Model a owners manual.

According to Dow Chemical Company reports, a typical residential install consisting of 350 solar shingles can cost at least $20,000; however, federal and state incentives depending on the location might significantly bring down the cost.^[7]

Solar contractors typically offer homeowners a full-service price for solar installation, which includes equipment purchasing, permit preparation and filing, registration with the local utility company, workmanship warranties, and complete on-site installation. Because photovoltaic solutions produce power in the form of direct current (DC) and the standard in homes is alternating current (AC), all grid-connected solar installations include an inverter to convert DC to AC.

Availability[edit]

As of 2015, companies offering solar shingles in the United States included CertainTeed,^[15] Forward Inc.,^[16] SunTegra Solar Roof Systems,^[5] and Atlantis Energy Systems (asphalt and slate systems).^[6]

In January 2018, Tesla announced, after testing on employees' roofs, that it would begin installing the Tesla Solar Roof on commercial customers' homes 'within the next few months'.^[17]

RGS Energy announced in October 2017 that they will be offering the third generation POWERHOUSE modules in 2018 after obtaining UL Certification.^[18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'SunTegra Solar Shingle 100W'. SunTegra Solar. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
2. ^Eckhouse, Brian (March 19, 2019). 'Tesla has a new rival in its quest to make solar rooftops happen'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
3. ^Goldstein, Matthew (2009-10-05). 'Dow to sell solar shingle, sees huge market'. Reuters. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
4. ^List of Solar Roof Shingle Manufacturers.
5. ^ ^ab'Long Island Solar Panel Installation - Find Solar Installers'. www.suntegrasolar.com. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
6. ^ ^ab'Atlantis Energy Systems'. atlantisenergy.com. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
7. ^ ^ab'Sun Roof: Solar Panel Shingles Come Down in Price, Gain in Popularity'. Scientific American. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
8. ^'Real Goods Solar, Inc. (RGSE) Stock Skyrockets on Dow Deal'. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2018 – via www.finance.yahoo.com.
9. ^'No One Saw Tesla's Solar Roof Coming'. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2018 – via www.bloomberg.com.
10. ^'Tesla Solar Roof'. www.tesla.com. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
11. ^'Solar Shingles'. thisoldhouse.com. 19 June 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
12. ^ ^ab'Tesla Solar Roof'. www.tesla.com. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
13. ^'BIPV Solar Shingles Cost: SunTegra, CertainTeed, POWERHOUSE 3.0, Tesla'. roofingcalc.com. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
14. ^'Solar Soft Costs'(PDF). SEIA. May 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2019. Linked from https://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-soft-costs. $3.05/watt was quoted for 2019 by energysage.com
15. ^'Solar Home Page'. certainteed.com. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
16. ^'Forward Solar Roofing - Solar Energy as Elegant as It Is Essential'. www.forwardsolarroofing.com. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
17. ^Eckhouse, Brian. 'Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production', Bloomberg.com, January 9, 2018
18. ^'Powerhouse Solar Shingles'. www.rgspowerhouse.com. Retrieved 19 April 2018.

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