Solar shingles, also known as photovoltaic shingles, are an innovative building material that fuses the characteristics of a traditional roof tile with the ability to produce electricity from solar energy.
Shingled solar panels should not be confused with solar shingles used in photovoltaic energy applied to construction (see figure 3). As already mentioned, solar shingles are nothing more than shingles made of photovoltaic cells, and these products replace the conventional roof.
Solar shingles incorporate solar cells generally made of ceramic or undulated fiberglass, each one containing 3 or 4 photovoltaic bands. Such photovoltaic bands are connected to the installation that passes under the roof. In figure 1 you can see the composition of the solar shingles: Fig 1. Solar Roofing Layers | Credit: Forward Solar Roofing
Shingles work the same way as PV solar panels but are designed to look and function like traditional slate or asphalt shingles. Instead of using mounting hardware and frames to install solar shingles — as is common with rooftop solar panel arrays — they are embedded into the roof during construction and replace conventional shingles.
Solar shingles on the roof are designed to resist adverse weather conditions, which translates into a prolonged useful life. Solar shingles have been carefully designed to blend in with conventional roof tiles without compromising their visual appearance on any building.
Therefore, they have been an interesting technology to transform traditional roofs into electric power production stations. Solar shingles incorporate solar cells generally made of ceramic or undulated fiberglass, each one containing 3 or 4 photovoltaic bands. Such photovoltaic bands are connected to the installation that passes under the roof.