Apr 18 2004
Solar power has made significant advances in recent years and leading roofing manufacturer, Marley Roofing, has evolved too, improving its offering with SolarTile. Having adopted photovoltaic technology, Marley’s energy efficient SolarTile, which integrates fully into the roof, generates clean and silent electric power from the limitless sunlight resource.
The Marley SolarTile has just two parts, a Top and a Base. Each tile has a PV laminate comprising 10 BP solar saturn cells generating an output of 23Wp (Watt peak). The laminate tile top, produced by Romag Glass on behalf of Marley Roofing, fits into the base and contains the photovoltaic elements, which generate electricity. The tile base fits into the roof and provides the electrical connectors to the house wiring.
The cells are made up of semi-conductor wafers of silicon (PV). When light strikes a PV cell, dc electricity is generated. The dc electricity is then converted to ac using an inverter, which is connected to the electrical supply.
Designed to integrate with the Marley Modern interlocking tile, the SolarTile is easily installed by fixing to standard battens and is completely modular to meet the requirements of any roofing application.
The solar power market is increasing rapidly as products become more reliable and efficient. Solar photovoltaics do not release any emissions that contribute to global warming and are a proven and safe technology. Pitched roofs are ideal situations for solar roofing systems as they are angled to the sun and over the year in the UK there is ample sunlight for electricity production.
A solar tile also offers benefits to the consumer by cutting household electricity bills and surplus electricity could be sold to the National Grid. The UK Government has committed to funding the use of solar roofing systems and is providing grants towards generating electricity, using photovoltaics.
John Girdham, business development director at Marley Roofing, commented: “The interest in PV technology is incredibly strong, with all aspects of the industry keen to utilise alternative sources of energy. In particular, Marley’s SolarTile, which harnesses the very latest solar technology, has received increasing interest from architects and specifiers to housing associations, local authorities and housebuilders.”
SolarTileTM is manufactured under license from PowertileTM.
Source: Communique PR