Entrepreneur Elon Musk has tried his hand at space travel, producing electric cars, and churning out home and commercial battery packs. His auto-making company, Tesla, this month paid $2.6 billion in cash to purchase Solar City, the struggling photovoltaic panel supplier that’s run by Musk’s cousin Lyndon Rive.
And now Solar City plans to develop stylish solar panels that would take the place of roof tiles on top of residential homes. These tiles would be manufactured at Solar City’s gigafactory in Buffalo, N.Y., using technology from Silevo, which Solar City acquired two years ago.
Ever the optimist, Musk is positioning his solar shingles as a preferable alternative to tiles or asphalt shingles that are typically used to replace roofs on more than five million houses annually. Solar City says it plans to have two solar products ready by the end of this year, one for existing roofs and the other that will be integrated within a roof, according to trendintech.com. Other details, like prices and production schedules, were not disclosed.
Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technology is not new. Photovoltaic shingles first came onto the market in 2005. They even merited a mention in Scientific American, which singled out Dow Chemical’s Powerhouse and CertainTeed’s Apollo brands, both of which introduced in 2011, as the leading solar shingles at the time.
CertainTeed’s Apollo II solar shingle is still available. GAF, according to its website, offers a solar roofing system in the six states that provide homeowner tax subsidies for installation. And last spring a Los Angeles startup called Sunflare came out with solar roofing product that dispenses with a glass substrate, and therefore are 65% lighter than solar panels. Sunflare’s product, which will soon be in production, is unique in that it is flexible enough to wrap around curves, can be cut to fit any roofline, and can be taped to an existing roof.
But Dow discontinued its PowerHouse Solar System 2.0 on July 28, and made its last shipments earlier this month. This sector, in fact, is littered with producers—including Applied Solar, Flexcell, Germany’s Soltecture, and even the oil giant BP—whose BIPV products have come and gone.
The problem that solar shingles have yet to overcome is that they generate electricity less efficiently than solar PV arrays. The shingles weren’t very attractive, either.
Tesla watchers point out that if Musk can make the design of ordinary batteries elegant, why not solar panels? And BIPV technology fits into his larger strategy for Tesla to become a fully integrated home energy company that makes solar roofs that capture energy for the house as well as for the home battery storage system that Tesla’s electric cars plug into for power.
Musk has also discussed installing solar roofs on the tops of Tesla’s cars.
Related Stories
| Mar 29, 2013
Stanford researchers develop nanophotonic panel that reflects sun's heat out of the atmosphere
Researchers at Stanford University have developed a nanophotonic material that not only reflects sunlight, but actually beams the thermal energy out of the earth's atmosphere.
| Mar 27, 2013
Small but mighty: Berkeley public library’s net-zero gem
The Building Team for Berkeley, Calif.’s new 9,500-sf West Branch library aims to achieve net-zero—and possibly net-positive—energy performance with the help of clever passive design techniques.
| Mar 22, 2013
Sika Sarnafil secures FM Approval for vegetated roofing system
Sika Sarnafil, the worldwide market leader in thermoplastic roofing and waterproofing membranes, today announced it received FM Approval for its vegetated roofing systems. Sika Sarnafil’s FM Approval is the first to be secured worldwide for a vegetated roofing system that includes both the vegetated cover and the Sarnafil roof waterproofing system.
| Mar 19, 2013
Wind valves will help increase hurricane resistance on Florida schools
Wind valves that harness the force of swirling winds to keep the roof in place during storms will be used to help seven Florida school roofs withstand hurricane-force winds.
| Feb 26, 2013
Tax incentive database for reflective roofs available
The Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association (RCMA) and the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) created a database of current information on rebates and tax credits for installing reflective roofs.
| Feb 25, 2013
GAF launches roofing industry’s first self-service roof energy calculator and rebate finder
GAF, North America’s largest roofing manufacturer, is pleased to announce CREST, the Cool Roof Energy and Sustainability Tool. Available at cool.gaf.com, CREST is a unique tool designed to help contractors, consultants and building owners compare the energy cost savings of different roofing systems options.
| Feb 6, 2013
George W. Bush Presidential Center among award-winning roofing projects honored by Sika Sarnafil
Winners of the 2012 Contractor Project of the Year Competition were announced this week by Sika Sarnafil. The annual competition highlights excellence in roofing installation. Roofing contractors are judged based on project complexity, design uniqueness, craftsmanship, and creative problem solving.
| Jan 14, 2013
RAM Commercial Trucks named official truck of 2013 International Roofing Expo (IRE)
Covering all segments of the roofing industry, attendees are made up of commercial and residential contractors, builders, remodelers, building owners, facility managers, manufacturers, architects, engineers and other ancillary industry professionals.
| Sep 7, 2012
7 Do's and Don'ts for PV roof rack installation
As PVs grow in popularity, nearly half of all installations require roof rack systems. Our expert tells how to do the job right and protect your client’s roof.