The BIPVs form the roof of a pair of recently completed modular homes
New Taiwanese building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) that mimic traditional roofing tiles debut this week at a demonstration house at the BRE’s Innovation Park in Watford.
The BIPVs form the roof of a pair of recently completed modular homes, called Üserhuus, and will provide more than 40% of the power needed by the properties.
Unlike traditional photovoltaics, which are installed as panels on top of a roof, the panels form the building’s roof covering itself. They are terracotta in colour and have a textured matt finish.
The new product is manufactured by Taiwanese photovoltaic technology specialist NexPower, whose sales director is travelling to the UK to launch the product.
This is the first time that these panels have been installed in the UK and according to the manufacturers it is the first time that BIPVs have been installed on a residential project in the UK.
Another innovation installed at the house is a battery storage system placed in the roof, allowing electricity that isn’t used at the time of generation to be stored, and circumventing the need to feed power back to the grid.
The battery is of a similar design to Tesla Motor’s Powerwall home battery, which was unveiled by the electric car manufacturer earlier this year.
The Üserhuus itself is designed to be an exemplar low energy home. It was constructed from a precision-engineered structural insulated panel system (SIPs) in a factory in Wales, then transported to Watford on the back of five lorries.
Overall the house was constructed in eight weeks, with six weeks in the factory, and two weeks on site, the the property was made weathertight and secure in just one day.
It has minimum carbon emissions, creates no site waste and is built primarily with British materials and products.
Funding for the project has come from Üserhuus AG, a Swiss, not-for-profit company which supports research in the fields of engineering and environmental sciences.
A local family is currently being sought to take part in occupancy trials so that the house can be tested to see how it performs in reality. It will be monitored for temperature, air moisture content, ventilation rates and energy use.
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I have been advocating for years about developing a tile to replace the ugly panels that in may cases reduce the value of a property, by making it lose its street appeal.
Why does it take a Taiwanese company to develop it, rather than a European one ??
The Government introduced Green Taxes, and it seems to me they are not investing those taxes in R&D. If they did then we would have more manufacturing in this country, which provides much needed jobs.
I live in Brisbane, South East Queensland, where it is sunny most of the time. I also need to replace my (tin) roof sometime soon. It seems what I need is something like this.
Hi, I have been asked to arrange for someone from your Company to come to our offices and give us a presentation. Could you please give me some dates towards the end of October, and during November when you would be able to come to Darlaston in the West Midlands to do this. Thanks. I you need any further information, please email me.
Sue McAleese