Solar shingles and tiles for roofing, good, bad, ugly, discussion

[GoingElectric]

Solar shingles and tiles underperform over panels, sometimes significantly, but is that so bad?

Good is esthetically pleasing roof that could better deal with elements than panel bolted on roof.
Bad is performance is not as good as panels, selection and features will be limited
Ugly is what to do when something stops working in system, or when output is below a threshold.

GAF has the Timberline Solar™ is a comprehensive building-integrated photovoltaic roofing system in about 3m long 45w strips that look more like asphalt singles than tiles, as such may decay like a regular asphalt. (easy to search and see datasheet)

Tesla Solar Roof is a tile system that snaps in and out. Being a tile as a roof it could easily last for well beyond the solar cells imbedded in the PV tiles (no all tiles are PV in this system).

There is also "Solar Spanish style tile roofing systems", following the 'S' shaped tiles often seen in SW USA and Spanish speaking counties

Maybe there is even panels used AS the roof?? (not see anything, but why not?)


I have not looked at any price quotes, how much more will and integrated roof system over a typical roof with rack mounted panels be?

And, despite lower performance, should this integrated system be promoted more?


CAVEAT:
With the tax back, an integrated solar roof is potentially fully tax deductible.

[peakbagger]

IMO The Tesla Solar roof is on the border of being barely available and very pricey I think the most recent installed are three or four times the cost of regular PV. Its also not really a tile roof. Ifs an injected molded "plastic" roof with tile insets on the exposed top side. Who really knows how long the plasticizers in the plastic hold out under a very hot roof?. My guess is at some point after a heavy wind storm, the home owner with Tesla roof if going to be searching the neighborhood for tiles that flew off. The limited info on the system is that they are just a snap in fit and that does not bode well. I have no doubt there will be orphaned systems out there if they are not out there yet. Sort of like the Solar City installs.

GAF is the third or fourth iteration of a conventional roofing company desperately pitching a way to stay relevant. Put Ice and Water shield under the roof (like Tesla apparently switched over to) and the shingles no longer are the primary roof membrane, they just protect the Ice and Water shield from UV damage. I would not go near them unless there was third party 100% labor and material warranty. As least when they fail if they are standard pitch someone may be able to weave in regular shingles.

Both systems are fundamentally impacted by the roof surface temp. Conventional panels on racks do get some cooling by convection under the panels but surface mount systems do not. Both appear to have a lot of small gauge wiring and connectors that also could be fragile in the long run.

IMHO both systems are not ready for Prime time,

[J.P.M.]

IMO The Tesla Solar roof is on the border of being barely available and very pricey I think the most recent installed are three or foru times the cost of regular PV. Its also not really a tile roof. Ifs an injected molded "plastic" roof with tile insets on the exposed top side. Who really knows how long the plasticizers in the plastic hold out under a very hot roof?. My guess is at some point after a heavy wind storm, the home owner with Tesla roof if going to be searching the neighborhood for tiles that flew off. The limited info on the system is that they are just a snapin fit and that does not bode well. I have no doubt there will be orphaned systems out there if they are not out there yet. Sort of like the Solar City installs.

GAF is the third or fourth iteration of a conventional roofing company desperately pitching a way to stay relevant. Put Ice and Water shield under the roof (like Tesla apparently switched over to) and the shingles no longer are the primary roof membrane, they just protect the Ice and Water shield from UV damage. I would not go near them unless there was third party 100% labor and material warranty. As least when they fail if they are standard pitch someone may be able to weave in regular shingles.

Both systems are fundamentally impacted by the roof surface temp. Conventional panels on racks do get some cooling by convection under the panels but surface mount systems do not. Both appear to have a lot of small gauge wiring and connectors that also coudl be fragile in the long run.

IMHO both systems are not ready for Prime time,

FWIW big +1 on that.

[GoingElectric]

IMHO both systems are not ready for Prime time,

Great input.

What you know of the 3ed item? I have seen them but don't know much about them.
Realize they will have cooling issues.

[peakbagger]

Not sure I have heard of 3ed?

[SunEagle]

Great input.

What you know of the 3ed item? I have seen them but don't know much about them.
Realize they will have cooling issues.

Cooling of those type of shingles is a concern. It was the main reason DOW stopped selling the "stick on" roll solar panels for metal roofs.

[GoingElectric]

Not sure I have heard of 3ed?

Here are examples:

HanErgy Thin Film HANTILE SOLAR ROOF TILES

I saw other similar, but I guess not popular because hard to find makers.
Also found Solé Power Tile from SRS Energy but hard to find more info on that one.

[peakbagger]

I would write off Hantile as they are thin film. Thins films have very bad rep over the years, they just do not seem to have the longevity

Same for Sole Power Tile its thin film.

Thin Films are some variation of plastic adhered to a substrate. There is some sort of adhesive involved with adhering them. Both are very intolerant to high temps and UV.