Solar Roofing Can Help Your Business

As a solar installer, you have undoubtedly come up against potential customers who are wary of the look of solar panels and how that affects the visual of a home. Solar roofing is a great solution and one that you can offer your customers today.

Solar roofing can be the right choice for the following reasons:

1. Homeowners get more power on a given roof foot print.

2. Solar roofs do not change the curb appeal of a home.

3. Solar roofs can be installed without piercing the building envelope.

4. Solar roofs allow homeowners to demonstrate their environment awareness in a very subtle way.

5. Solar roofs can the customer avoid some electricity costs.

The challenge in the past has been finding a product. Many of the solar roofing options on the market look like regular solar panels but are in fact more expensive. Many customers are aware of and interested in the Tesla solar roof offering, however that isn’t available to you as an installer due to the distribution model that Tesla has chosen.

There are a few options in the market for solar installers, and the Ergosun Integrated Solar Roof Tile is the only one on the market in several countries. It is currently powering homes in Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, South Africa, and Jamaica. As a Solar Installer, your answer when a customer wants non-intrusive solar power can now be YES!

See how easy the Ergosun Integrated Solar Roof Tile is to install.

The Future of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPVs)

Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPVs) are photovoltaic materials that are used to replace conventional building materials in parts of the building envelope such as the roof or facade.

California recently passed the 100% clean energy act. It is a bold step to take that clearly says they want their population to generate the power they use – at least in part. California is not alone; Legislation is used in many jurisdictions to reduce the impact we all have on the climate. Historically, governments have used feed in tariffs to support renewable energy and today you can see tax credits and grants being offered in several residential markets. The state of California has gone a step further, approving legislation mandating rooftop solar when a new home is built.

Legislation can create challenging market dynamics. As solar integration becomes mandated, homebuilders will face additional new operational steps in construction and will need to build the incremental costs into their selling prices. Homeowners will in turn need to defray these costs over the life of the mortgage. Home Owner Associations (HOAs) will face potential maintenance and upkeep costs on the installed equipment. Even local utility providers are likely to be impacted as they manage increasing complexity in the grid. This is going to be difficult, but beneficial.

How BIPVs, like the Ergosun Integrated Solar Roof Tile, will play a role in this future is somewhat unpredictable. However, there are several reasons to believe that BIPV will thrive in a future where solar power is legislated:

1. When solar is integrated with existing building materials it can be installed during a builder’s normal work flow. There is then no need to build to a certain point and wait for the solar contractor to arrive and complete the solar install before resuming further construction. With builders that are building large developments more efficient work flow is critical.

2. Builders do not want to pierce the building envelope post construction since doing so compromises weatherability and impacts warranties. Conventional solar requires drilling through the roof post construction, whereas BIPVs do not.

3. The aesthetics criteria of most HOAs are easier to achieve with BIPVs.

4. When building multi-family dwellings there is often a lack of available roof space to deliver the solar target per resident or unit. Builders need to look more broadly for opportunities to add renewable energy.

5. As scales grow, the cost difference between conventional solar and BIPV will shrink.

BIPVs can help solve many of the challenges that builders will face as they are legislated to integrate solar power into their buildings. Over time, the combination of increasing renewables legislation and better integration of solar products into existing building materials will lower the cost of solar power and continue to make it more attractive.

Building Integrated Solar Panels can Improve Power Output from a Roof by 60%

Ergosun Panel Configuration

Traditional Panel Configuration

Highlights:

1. Ergosun Integrated Solar Roof Tiles allow for 60% more power generation on a typical roof

2. Complex roofs need different solutions than standard solar panels

Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) can achieve many things – they look great, install simply, make use of available space for power generation, and afford people pride in their homes. Of course, there is an obvious reason for integrating solar products into building materials … power generation.

Making use of available space is one of the arguments for BIPV that is rarely discussed, but it can make a huge difference in the ability of a home owner to replace power they purchase from a utility company with power from their own roof. We recently helped a customer compare alternate solar layouts with traditional solar panels versus Ergosun Integrated Solar Roof Tiles. The architectural drawings allowed us to do a precise comparison.

Using Ergosun Integrated Solar Roof Tiles we were able to fit 21,500 watts of capacity on the roof, whereas conventional panels could only generate 13,500 watts – a 60% improvement. In the real world this enabled the homeowner to replace nearly 80% of the power they purchased with power from their own roof, as compared to conventional panels where they could replace just 50% of the power they purchased. A significant difference.

How is this possible? Well, the answer is intuitive. When you bond the solar panel directly to the roof tile you get a module that can be placed everywhere that you place roof tiles, and there are a lot more spaces to place a roof tile than a solar panel. You can fill the hips and valleys of the roof.

Step back from your home and look at the roof. Commonly, you will see window dormers, sky lights, and various other fixtures such as vent pipes. All these items prevent conventional solar panels from being installed. However, as the drawings above demonstrate, Ergosun Integrated Solar Roof Tiles fit around all these items. There is the opportunity, right before your eyes!