These Solar Roof Tiles provide a suitable alternative to large, obvious solar panels for those who wish to preserve the aesthetics of their roof. The solar panels can be placed on every tile or only on a section to provide your home with sustainable eco-friendly electricity.
The Solar Roof Tiles are made by the Italian company Tegolasolare. They create each tile from natural red clay and do not add any chemicals to the clay to help minimise the environmental impact. By using a high temperature spray drying process the tiles they create have increased strength which provides you with a durable tile with a traditional red colouration. The tiles have a greater resistance to weather and knocks and they absorb less water and heat compared to more traditional counterparts.
Each tile can have a solar panel that comprises of 4 photovoltaic cells installed onto it. The solar panel is integrated into the tile, helping it to not be seen except from above. This allows the home owner to retain the aesthetics of the building as from ground level only the red of the tiles is really noticeable. Each tile’s solar panel needs to be connected up by wire strings to the next one. The tiles are all interconnected underneath to form the equivalent of one large power generation system. The wiring bundles lead to an inverter that is used to transform the current from Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC) which can be then fed into the power grid.
The electricity created by the solar panels that has gone to the power grid is then used as credit against your electrical usage bill. Depending on how many tiles you have with a solar panel integrated this can lead to high savings. The tiles with the integrated solar panels can be put onto any amount of the roof you require, tiles without the panels can be used to tile the rest of the roof. This allows you to target roof areas where maximum advantage of the sun can be taken to save costs, or to cover the whole roof for maximum gain. As each tile is designed to have a solar panel integrated, additional solar panels can be added at a later date if you decide to leave some tiles free from them to begin with. Because each tile is separate each one can be easily replaced and wired back into the system. This allows the roof to be maintained easily and for you to be able to upgrade the solar technology in stages if required for higher performance in the future.
The Solar Roof Tiles provide anyone with the means to benefit from solar energy without having to deal with the ugly large panels commonly used. The tiles can be used with great flexibility as you can increase the amount of solar panels used over time if required and can upgrade the system in stages. The tiles help a building to retain its traditional aesthetics while benefiting from modern technology of solar energy.
Source: iGreenSpot