Todd Woody is reporting for the New York Times blog Green, Inc. that Dow Chemical has designed a new roof shingle intended to replace asphalt shingles to adorn most residential homes. The design allows solar panels “to be integrated into asphalt-tiled roofs.”“Jane Palmieri, managing director of Dow’s Solar Solutions unit, said the Powerhouse thin-film shingle slashes installation costs because it can installed by a roofer who is already building or retrofitting a roof.” It’s almost as simple as the roofer switching from the asphalt to the solar shingle. The solar shingles are also attached by nails. ‘“You don’t have to have a solar installation crew do the work or have an electrician on site . . . The solar shingle can be handled like any other shingle – it can be palletized, dropped from a roof, walked on.””
However, an electrician is needed to “connect the completed array to an inverter and to a home’s electrical system.”
Unlike conventional panels, the single shingles plug into each other to form the array. Test-marketing of the shingles is expected in mid-2010. The initial targets will be new home construction. “Ms. Palmieri said the market could be worth $5 billion by 2015 and noted that 90 percent of homes in the United States use asphalt shingles.”
The Dow-designed shingles will initially be manufactured at the company’s Midland, MI facility. Global Solar of Tucson, AZ supplies the thin film solar cells. “Thin-film has generally not been used for residential systems because of its relatively low efficiency – Global Solar’s cells are 10 percent efficient. That means a larger array is required generate the same of amount of electricity as conventional solar panels.”
Still Dave Parrillo, senior research and development director for Do Solar Solutions believes these shingles can offset anywhere between 40 to 80 percent of a home’s electricity consumption.
A shingle array is 10 percent to 15 percent less expensive than standard-rack panel systems and 40 percent cheaper than the competitions “integrated photovoltaic products.”
The goal is simply, “Our objective is to prove that this can be a mainstream adopted product [.]”
To read Woody’s story on the panels click here.
Still Dave Parrillo, senior research and development director for Do Solar Solutions believes these shingles can offset anywhere between 40 to 80 percent of a home’s electricity consumption.
A shingle array is 10 percent to 15 percent less expensive than standard-rack panel systems and 40 percent cheaper than the competitions “integrated photovoltaic products.”
The goal is simply, “Our objective is to prove that this can be a mainstream adopted product [.]”
To read Woody’s story on the panels click here.
Posted: 10/07/09
