Peel and stick panels ?

[Davebones]

Saw where they are coming out with very thin solar panels that you peel off the back and stick to a metal roof . Has anyone installed any of these ? I understand it's a pretty new type of panel ...

 

[pv_n00b]

It's not new, Uni-Solar was doing it years ago. I have a couple of their flexible modules. "Peel and Stick" was kind of a joking way of referring to them, I don't think any of them actually had a peel and stick backing. Some were glued down and I have seen them slide down standing seam roofs when the glue was not up to the task and snow loading was high.

 

[ggunn]

Saw where they are coming out with very thin solar panels that you peel off the back and stick to a metal roof . Has anyone installed any of these ? I understand it's a pretty new type of panel ...

They are not not new and they don't work all that well for a couple of reasons. One is that in order to be flexible they are made from thin films rather than from crystalline silicon, and thin films are not as efficient at converting sunlight to electrical energy. Another is that since they adhere directly to the roof surface without an air gap under them, they get hotter than modules in traditional racking, and that heat reduces their electrical output and accelerates their degradation over time.

 

[jaggedben]

This is an old and basically a failed idea. My company will soon be decomissioning some of those Unisolar ones that were installed about 10 years ago and building a conventional racked array over the top of them.

 

[LarryFine]

Sounds useful for EVs.

 

[ggunn]

Sounds useful for EVs.

Do you mean to add to the roofs of EVs? Not really; their electrical output per square meter isn't high enough to make a significant difference.

 

[PWDickerson]

We only installed those once about 12-14 years ago. They didn't last long. But what they lacked in quality, they made up in poor performance!

 

[mopowr steve]

Do you mean to add to the roofs of EVs? Not really; their electrical output per square meter isn't high enough to make a significant difference.

And those solar panels don’t charge a car at night

 

[BandGap1.1eV]

I installed some Lumetta modules maybe 15 years back on an old mill building. They were a frameless poly-crystaline module with butyl-rubber tape on the back. No idea how well they are working now. Not sure I would ever advocate for it, similarly to how I would never advocate for solar shingles. When you combiner solar and roofing, you get the worst of both worlds.

 

[winnie]

Really, if you want to combine solar and roofing, probably best to buy cheap-ass _used_ solar panels and use them as the roofing material.