Solar Panels for Roofs

Integrated PV Roofing

• Flat-plate collectors can be incorporated right into the overall design of a roof. Installed directly into slate, asphalt or fiber-cement roofing materials, solar power becomes a part of the structure and more aesthetic in appearance. Existing metal roofing can be fitted with a bonded photovoltaic material that lies flat and is less noticeable than solar panels.

Solar Shingles

• Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) materials combine solar cells with actual construction materials such as roofing shingles. Slate, metal, fiber-cement, and ­asphalt roofing are types of material that can be secured to the roof's sheathing like regular roofing tiles. While such materials are unable to capture a large percentage of the sun's rays, using the entire surface of the roof helps to increase the total collection, making such solar shingles competitive with regular solar panels.

Solar Tiles

• Owners of homes with rippled tiles will soon have option of buying solar tiles of similar design. Providing an estimated 8 to 20 percent more energy than crystalline silicon panels, this is a new type of technology that incorporates new triple-junction amorphous silicon thin-film technology into curved tiles to match curved clay tile roofs in shape, if not in color. Testing has been completed on public buildings, and marketing of such tiles for general use began in the spring of 2010.

Cost Savings

• Suited for changing climates across the country, new flexible, resilient photovoltaic materials are improving cost-efficiency by covering larger roof sections. The initial cost of installing photovoltaic systems is falling rapidly in 2011. The ability to produce solar power can range from 8 to 50 percent better than the solar panels available for use on roofs just five years ago, and the technology continues to change rapidly.