The new solar roof imitates shingles, right down to the nails

A new solar technology unveiled yesterday at CES could take roofing to the mainstream by relying on an old building material: nails.

For years, homeowners in need of solar power have been stripping their old roof tiles, adding new ones, and then installing large solar panels on top using sturdy frames. It’s a model that works well, but it also creates a two-step process that engineers try to simplify.

Many companies have come up with their own take on solar roofs, but for now, they remain niche products. GAF Energy hopes to change that with Timberline Solar Energy shingles, which look strikingly similar to conventional shingles. But their key feature is not so much that they mimic the look of shingles, but that they are installed in much the same way. Roofers can attach flexible sheets and nail the top lath to the roof as they do for traditional roofs.

By relying on the tile installation process, GAF Energy is counting on the scale of the roofing industry to make solar energy more affordable. “The rooftop ecosystem is 20 to 30 times larger than the sun. In the United States, 200,000 to 300,000 people receive a new solar system each year. Over 5 million people will get a new roof,” Martin DeBono, CEO of GAF Energy, told Ars. “Our innovation is that you now have a nailed solar roof that fits most roofs.”

A new take on an old idea

The solar roof concept has been around for many years, and by far the most famous is the Tesla concept. Their solar roofs are stylish and sleek, with power-generating shingles that are almost indistinguishable from regular shingles. But despite a few tweaks, they are still difficult to install at a reasonable price. Just this year, the company has significantly increased the cost of its solar roofs by adding a “roof complexity”factor that affects the overall cost.

GAF Energy’s approach attempts to simplify several parts of the process. The first, as DeBono said, is customer acquisition. Solar installers spend huge sums to acquire new customers, which adds to the price of each installation. Installers spent $0.75 per watt looking for new customers last year, according to analysts at WoodMackenzie . For a typical 7kW system, customer acquisition adds $5,250, or about 23% of the system cost. In comparison, DeBono said that “roofers spend very little on sales and marketing.”

Finally, GAF Energy moved most of the wiring to the roof instead of burying it under the shingles. Rows of solar tiles are daisy-chained and connected by wires that look like seams on a metal roof. Each wiring supports 2 kW of solar panels. The roofers make the electrical connections between the tiles, and the electrician checks them all when installing the inverter and connecting the system to the mains.