Energy-producing solar shingles: Tesla would like to offer entire solar roofs in the future
As Tesla boss Elon Musk recently announced as part of the announcement of Solarcity's business figures, solar shingles and complete solar roofs are also to be sold in the future. In combination with the home storage solution for renewable energies, which Tesla christened Powerwall, homeowners can ensure more self-sufficiency in the future.
A complete solar roof instead of attached PV modules
Tesla is about to acquire Solarcity. As soon as the shareholders and the approval authorities give their approval, the new photovoltaic modules will be presented. That should take place around the fourth quarter of 2016. Tesla and the company Solarcity, which is then responsible for the division, no longer want to mount modules on the roof, but rather upgrade the roof itself to become an electricity producer. The solar shingles, known in specialist circles as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV for short), should be available in two versions. One version can be integrated into previous roofs, while a second version is intended to replace the entire roof. Elon Musk emphasized at the press conference that the customer with the new shingles is not getting anything put on the roof, but in the end you get a coherent, seamless result. In the USA alone, five million new roofs are built or old ones replaced every year. Elon Musk and also Solarcity's managing director Lyndon Rive hope that the technology will attract new groups of buyers.
Solarcity is not reinventing the wheel
Thanks to further technical developments and, most recently, increases in terms of the yield of modern photovoltaic modules, roof shingles can also be used to generate clean electricity in the future. The Braas company, together with the manufacturer Stafier Solar Systems, started building ultra-thin solar panels instead of roof tiles as early as 2013 . The Spanish company Cupa Pizarras chose a different route and integrated the solar cells directly into the bricks. The product that goes by the name of Thermoslate hears, should enable energy savings of up to 85 percent. The black slate of the roof tiles enhances the effect and ensures a greater yield. The advantage of the Thermoslates is that the parts can also be attached to house walls, and the company also speaks of coverings for paths or floors. The recently introduced SolarSkin solution is also impressive . These solar cells are able to visually adapt to their surroundings.
A lot is happening in the field of solar cell development. In the end, however, efficiency and yield are also decisive. This is where the crux of the matter lies buried, at least with the SolarSkin products. The efficiency is currently between 15 and 17 percent.
Home storage solution plus solar roof
With the launch of the new solar roof tiles, SolarCity and Tesla will be able to put together a lucrative package in the future. Tesla already offers the Powerwall home storage system in version 2.0 . This is a sizeable battery that can be mounted on the house wall or in the garage and stores excess solar power. Even homeowners who have not yet produced their own solar power can use the rechargeable batteries, which are housed in elegant housings, as backup storage, namely when the power grid breaks down. When Tesla launched the solar walls from the very beginning, they were sold out within a very short time. In addition to Tesla, Daimler, Kreisel Electric also offer and the Dresden-based company Solarwatt energy storage for home use.