Photovoltaic tiles made in Europe, its performance has nothing to envy to Elon Musk’s tile.
A few years ago, in 2016 to be exact, Tesla announced the arrival in Europe of its solar tiles and roofs. We are in 2022 and it is clear that no Tesla tile has yet appeared on European soil. Will Tesla’s solar roof ever come here? Nobody really knows. Apparently Elon Musk’s ads didn’t impress the Hungarian company Terran, which has developed a Concrete solar tile with a power of 167 W/m².
This award-winning European tile, called Generon, could well be the main competitor of the American giant on the Old Continent.
Contents
Solar tiles in Europe.
Elon Musk has media power that not everyone has. Accustomed to making groundbreaking statements and extreme financial stunts like the Twitter takeover, the Tesla creator has often spoken about Tesla’s solar rooftops.
Other lesser-known companies are also working on solar tiles in Europe. Among them, SunStyle, Dyaqua and Novi-Case, which have already entered this promising niche. A few months ago, the Terran company joined the sector.
Characteristics Generon photovoltaic roof tile.
Each Generon slab weighs 5.7 kg and is 42 cm long, 33 cm wide and 3 cm thick.
It is completely covered with small monocrystalline photovoltaic cells (PERC) with a power of 15 Wp (167 Wp/m²).
Aesthetically, the small solar cells are placed on a black background, itself covered with a 3.2 mm thick anti-reflective glass.
The company guarantees the performance of Generon tiles for 20 years and manufactures them in Europe (Slovakia, Romania, Hungary).
In their last factory in Hungary, they are able to produce around 200,000 solar tiles per year.
The Generon tile is already available on the European market and is used on certain roofs.
Some technical details.
The Generon slab is certified according to European standard EN 490: 2011.
With a nominal power of 15 Wp and a mechanical resistance of 1200 N, it has a sealing capacity of more than 20 hours.
It is also certified against fire by various European standards (B-s1, d0 MSZ EN 13501-1:2007+A1:2010).
Cabling is via 400mm long, 4mm2 solar cables with TYCO PV4 connectors (MC4 compatible).
Terran has been manufacturing shingles for over a century. For this reason, they have diversified their activities with a booming product such as solar tiles, but they are already specialists in the manufacture of tiles in Europe.
The Generon solar tile has already won several awards, including the Red Dot Award in 2021. This award has been awarded for 65 years and is considered one of the most prestigious in the world.
Upon its market launch, Terran Generon also won the E.ON Energy Globe Award as one of the most innovative and sustainable ideas.
More information: terran-generon.com
