Solar shingles, also called photovoltaic shingles, are solar panels or solar modules designed to look like and function as conventional roofing materials, such as asphalt shingle or slate, while also producing electricity. Solar shingles are a type of solar energy solution known as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).
There are several varieties of solar shingles, including shingle-sized solid panels that take the place of a number of conventional shingles in a strip, semi-rigid designs containing several silicon solar cells that are sized more like conventional shingles, and newer systems using various thin-film solar cell technologies that match conventional shingles both in size and flexibility. There are also products using a more traditional number of silicon solar cells per panel reaching as much as 100 watts DC rating per shingle.[1]
Solar shingles are manufactured by several companies[2] but the two main manufacturers of solar roof shingles are Dow and CertainTeed.[3] Other active companies in the US include SunTegra Solar Roof Systems,[4] and Atlantis Energy Systems (asphalt and slate systems),[5]
There is no claim that "solar shingles" are new, just that it wasn't what people expected Tesla to be announcing. From the article... "Like previous attempts at solar shingles..."
I am not debating this, but this feels eerily like some feature PC/Windows has but when it is introduced by Apple say, tablets becomes the rage. No it does not have to be original, originality is over-rated. Tesla has packaged it well, and to say the least in a non-intrusive and colorful way, just like what Apple (used to do?) does with its products. I looked at DOW solar shingles, there were talk about how unmitigated disaster they were on forums, may be it is just hear-say. Tesla has the power to persuade than DOW, at least for now. Without taking Credit from DOW and others, may be this is the time of Solar Shingles.
Firstly, they look taped on. We clearly see that there are normal tiles underneath, giving the same impression that a piece of cloth would have if a hole in it had been fixed by stitching a completely different piece of cloth on it.
Secondly, they are not properly aligned at the edge. It might be a bit OCD, but I wouldn't expect my wooden parquetry to stop before reaching the wall.
Thirdly, they are reflective. Reflection is great for things you don't want people to look at, like the toilet door (put a mirror on it) or the Oracle HQ. Nobody wants their home to be a huge mirror, if only because the sun gets painfully reflected to you.
> I figure two could just be quality of installation
I think it's more about using the places where the sun shines the most (look at the third before/after photo in that page). Tesla roofs on the other side will have non-solar shingles that look exactly the same.
The shingles themselves look great. The installation is terrible, right over the top of old shingles and not even fully covering the old shingles. It's not edge-to-edge.
Either it was a dumb install, or those "shingles" aren't really roofing material.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_shingle
Solar shingles, also called photovoltaic shingles, are solar panels or solar modules designed to look like and function as conventional roofing materials, such as asphalt shingle or slate, while also producing electricity. Solar shingles are a type of solar energy solution known as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).
There are several varieties of solar shingles, including shingle-sized solid panels that take the place of a number of conventional shingles in a strip, semi-rigid designs containing several silicon solar cells that are sized more like conventional shingles, and newer systems using various thin-film solar cell technologies that match conventional shingles both in size and flexibility. There are also products using a more traditional number of silicon solar cells per panel reaching as much as 100 watts DC rating per shingle.[1]
Solar shingles are manufactured by several companies[2] but the two main manufacturers of solar roof shingles are Dow and CertainTeed.[3] Other active companies in the US include SunTegra Solar Roof Systems,[4] and Atlantis Energy Systems (asphalt and slate systems),[5]
Unisolar went bankrupt a few years ago....