Rooftop-integrated solar gaining traction in Cali
CNET’s News.com has a story about growing interest in and uptake of rooftop-integrated solar “tiles” in California, where more and more home developers are building with the product. I can’t wait to see the rooftop- or building-integrated market explode. Elk Roofing, which is testing out similar product from Photowatt Technologies (i.e. ATS Automation’s Spheral Solar unit), has been very pleased with the quality and performance and is reportedly very close to getting this technology out to key customers.
“The product looks good. It installs well. It’s producing electricity, and, you know, we’re moving closer,” Elk chief executive Tom Karol told analysts on a conference call on April 26. “We think there’s a good opportunity and we’ve got to get our part to the market as fast as we can.”
Integrating PV cells into roofing and other building products is key to lowering the cost of the technology, because installation and roofing expenses must be paid for anyway regardless of whether the customer chooses solar or not. Combined with incentives offered in places such as California, the attraction is difficult to deny.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca