British solar manufacturer, Romag has announced a new integrated solar PV tile designed to enhance property aesthetics.
The company’s new Intecto PV tile is billed as a solution for solar generation that will not negatively impact on a building’s design or visual appearance.
Romag is offering the title in a range of colours in order to better blend in alongside roof tiles. The company says that the product has been tailored towards architects, housebuilders and roofing contractors who want to offer aesthetically superior solar installs.
The Intecto tile is installed directly to wood roofing battens using the company’s fixing system which it guarantees. The frameless solar PV tiles sit flush with a range of roof styles including: conventional interlocking concrete, clay and teracotta tiles or can alternatively make up a whole roof solution.
Romag hopes that the PV tiles can be used to help overcome challenging planning conditions where traditional solar applications can be hard to win approval for. Romag foresees the tiles being an appropriate choice for heritage and green-belt areas.
Commenting on the new product, Kevin Webster, technical director at the Durham-based manufacturer said: “There has been considerable recent debate about the aesthetics of solar panels and how colour matching may compromise the effectiveness of solar PV products.
“By successfully blending into the roofscape and maintaining power output efficiencies, Intecto successfully overcomes both these challenges and provides an effective solution to the need to maintain the integrity of a building in its local surroundings.
“As a result, the system has the potential to revolutionise roofing and building practices and brings a new dimension to the ability of building integrated PV products to replace conventional materials and add renewable energy performance to a property.”
The tiles will be available in black, grey and terracotta colours and are fully IEC and MCS certified.