Your Solar Roof | Green Energy News

January 27, 2002 – Vol.6 No.44

YOUR SOLAR ROOF.

Asphalt shingle, wood shingle, tar and gravel, slate, standing seam metal, terra cotta tile, all common types of roofing materials, may someday be joined with another type - solar photovoltaic roofing. Though available now, the high initial cost and expense of installation keep solar PV from being a common, mainstream roofing product. Hopefully this will change soon.

Bekaert ECD Solar Systems, a close business relative of Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) and United Solar, has received a $ 1.5 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) under a cost-shared contract to develop and commercialize a lower-cost quick-to-install building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofing system. The goal? To make it possible for all roofs to become solar systems - for solar roofing to be used in place of common roofing materials.

With the exception of a few products already available, most roof-top solar systems are not considered water tight and need to have a separate weather-proof roofing material beneath them. However, in terms of overall construction costs, a durable, water tight solar system that acts as both power generator and roofing, should cost less than a separate solar system installed on top of a common roofing material.

The grant, awarded under the California Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program will be administered by the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD). With the grant Bekaert ECD will likely further develop United Solar’s existing line of PV roofing shingles and solar standing seam metal roofing systems. Visit Bekaert at United Solar at http://ovonic.com/unisolar/ .