Installation is Easy

Ideal for both new construction or re-roofing, the complete SUNSLATES™ system is delivered to the job site. No special trades are necessary. Once trained, the roofer and electrician can  handle the installation themselves:

•  SUNSLATES™ are secured with stainless steel storm anchor hooks and anchored to 1×4 nailers resting on 2×2 sleepers. They are rated to Dade County, Fl. standard.

•  Each SUNSLATES™ tile comes with a proprietary gas-tight connector that wires each tile to the adjacent tile. With a simple twist of a special screwdriver-like tool (provided), the SUNSLATES™ tile is locked securely within its circuit.

•  At the end of each course, a “homerun” cable is run to a splice box on the underside of the roof deck. On new construction, the low voltage cable is run through wall bays to the inverter. Usually on re –roof construction it is run through conduit on the exterior wall through an eave.

•  The typical size of an energy roof uses about 300 ft. square of SUNSLATES™. (17′ x 17′). This size dimension requires one inverter. (Note) Each 100 sq feet of SUNSLATES™ installed is 750 pounds of roofing. This compares to pounds per square for concrete tile and 300 pounds for composition shingles.

•  A single sub-roof penetration (through the plywood sheathing and felt paper, not the tiles) is required per roof plane of SUNSLATES™ installed.

•  The wiring from the roof to the inverter — and from the inverter to the main house panel — can be handled by the on-site electrical contractor who is wiring the rest of the house using standard wiring techniques.

•  The inverter is installed within a cabinet that is built into an exterior or interior location in the house, preferably one that is close to the main house panel.

Source: solar electric roofing tiles

Electrical energy can be generated from solar radiation using the photovoltaic (PV) effect. In the drive for an energetically sustainable world, PV systems provide the most promising form of sustainable energy and the only type suitable for use on large scales. Two main complementary visions exist for harnessing its potential. The first involves the construction of big, centralized PV power plants to replace conventional fossil-fuel or nuclear-power installations. The second makes commercial and residential buildings self-sufficient by means of PV modules on roofs or in façades. This decentralized and more democratic option of ‘building-integrated photovoltaics’ has grown rapidly in recent years to become a significant part of the PV market. The technology’s long-term economic viability requires that it meet the needs of both building construction and energy generation.

At present, PV systems are usually mounted on the roof, requiring some small adjustments to the building structure. This is expensive, inefficient, and unsightly. It is more effective to use a PV module that can both produce solar energy and work as building element. Some steps have already been taken toward this goal by fabricating alternative roof tiles¹ or shingles² with embedded solar cells. We wanted to improve on this and integrate the two elements more fully by depositing a thin-film solar cell directly onto a conventional building element, such as a ceramic tile.

The main advantage of thin-film compared with conventional crystalline-silicon solar cells is that the PV device, a few microns in thickness, can be deposited using a low-temperature process (e.g., plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition) onto a variety of substrates, such as glass, steel, or ceramics. It is therefore possible to design a complete industrial production process to turn a standard building material into a working PV device, such as a PV ceramic tile.

Source: PV ceramic tile