New roofs can make you crazy: be careful!

Elena Ivanova

American entrepreneur Elon Musk, along with cars and private astronautics, seriously took up the sale of "solar roofs". Everyone knows the bulky solar panels that advanced "green" consumers of electricity placed on their roofs. Nobody can call these panels home decoration. In addition, these batteries make roofing difficult. If the roof of the house has leaked, to repair it, you must first dismantle the panels, and then repair the roof. It is inconvenient and expensive. Firefighters also know that if such a house ignites, it will be more difficult to extinguish it. And the economic component is far from ideal. The panels were expensive, and their payback occurred at the end of their life. This meant that consumers funded technological progress, which in itself was meritorious, but received no benefits for itself. But the development of green electricity has gone forward, and the time has come for the “solar tile”.

Elon Musk is a brilliant marketer of all his products, there is no doubt about that. But something went wrong with the sunroof from the start. In 2017, Tesla announced the start of pre-sales of “solar roofs”. American consumers had to make an advance payment of $ 1,000, and the next year they were promised to build their beautiful (no doubt) new, smart, green roof. Three years have passed, according to Elektrek magazine, some Americans began to receive automatic emails in which Tesla said that she did not provide roof installation services in the area, and investors would receive their money within 7-10 days. Consumers are upset about why Tesla needed their bucks for 3 years, and why, after three years of waiting, they should reconsider the whole roof concept again.

Meanwhile, Tesla is far from the only, although, perhaps, the most famous supplier of “solar tiles”. There are dozens of such firms, there are American, German, Italian, Swiss, Dutch and Chinese manufacturers of tiles. Engineers say that about their technical characteristics, solar tiles are no different from ordinary solar panels. When covering a roof of 100 square meters, photovoltaics will cost the owners 28.5 thousand euros, while using solar tiles they will pay 5 thousand euros more. If you mount it during the construction of the house, then the solar tile is economically viable. If your home is 10 years old and you want to make a smart roof, it will cost you twice as much. To begin with, you will need to remove the old roof and mount the entire system again. In addition, each tile is a small solar panel. And they are also prone to breakdowns, like their big brothers. If the system stops working, you will have to check each tile individually.

There is an intermediate option between the ugly solar panels and the elegant, but rather difficult to use "solar shingles" - built-in photovoltaic modules. They are much more convenient to maintain than shingles, and aesthetically more interesting than batteries. In order not to get into trouble, experts advise to conduct their own market research and then make a decision.