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Photovoltaic standardised tiles attested for roofing with a large European target

Deliverables

Preliminary to any other activity within the PV-STARLET programme, a first PV-tile was developed and then adapted to more and more conventional tile patterns. This development included many phases: research of a custom-sized PV laminate, design of the support, testing phases and minor adaptations, and follow-up on test sites. The aluminium support actually constitutes the key point of the product, since it is developed in order to fit into identified patterns of fired clay tiles and ensure the water-tightness of the entire roof. Several patterns were developed so that the PV-tile can be integrated into various types of roof covers, from flat tiles to strongly curved tiles and of different formats. At a total, 14 conventional clay tiles patterns are perfectly compatible in Europe. Appropriate BOS, including inverters, were selected in order to sell PV-STARLET systems as complete kits ready to be installed by adequate professionals. First sites were equipped in France, in the UK and in Italy from 2003 to the end of 2005: at a total 202 sites for 503,2 kWp. These sites mainly concern private individual houses, but also schools, SME, medical practice, etc., and new buildings as well as retrofitting. They are useful tools for dissemination and for monitoring.
Monitoring is a key activity for the large dissemination of PV that can increase the benefit of PV systems. First it allows to locate any faulty operation and guaranties the good functioning of the systems. If the PV users are trained to do a simple monitoring themselves, it also makes them aware of the value of electricity and encourages to energy savings. When data are collected, analysed and published, it furthermore creates reference data that increase the global knowledge of PV. For the systems installed within the PV-STARLET programme, 2 different kinds of monitoring were implemented. A simplified monitoring done in partnership with each PV user: for two years all PV users monthly fill pre-printed postcards up and send to Hespul for exploitation, including early detection of eventual failure. A few sites (4 spread on the French territory) are monitored in detail by an automatic remote system through modem and collected data are analysed by Hespul and send to ISPRA for further exploitation. The detailled monitoring process respects the European Guidelines and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standards 61724 titled "Photovoltaic system performance monitoring - Guidelines for measurement, data exchange and analysis".
The usual market for traditional fired-clay tiles is basically in individual and small-size collective housing, roughly half for new buildings and half for retrofitting. By chance, this segment of construction market is also a target market for grid-connected PV technology. Experiences in all countries clearly show that individual housing has always been the first niche for development of PV, even when cost are high and support policy weak. Several reasons come to explain this: the high motivation of owners and/or users since solar-roofing is seen as a citizen action in favour of the environment; the much more relative issue of cost-effectiveness for decision to invest than in other economic sectors since a pay-back time roughly coherent with the usual duration of loans for housing (frequently up to 15-20 years) is regarded as reasonable; the decision to invest is flexible and fast; a few number of intervening parties all along the chain for decision and implementation, since a direct relationship between supplier and buyer is the usual practice; a high demonstration and dissemination capacity based on the proven word of mouth process, which is based on the possibility for anybody to identify himself to such a project. On the opposite, this market segment has to face structural disadvantages, irrespectively of support and incentive schemes that are implemented at national or regional level: a large geographical distribution of the demand, which leads to difficulties and over-costs for marketing and for logistic management; a frequent overvalue of the actual risk by the potential customer or by the local installer because of a poor knowledge of the state-of-the art; the difficulty for any new product to be introduced in the construction sector constituted mainly by SMEs and craftsmen, and among the go-between partners like wholesalers and retailers, which all can be considered as rather conservative. These disadvantages must be overtaken for an industrial scale to be reached in PV roofs technology dissemination. PV-STARLET precisely aims at reaching this objective through an innovative approach. In these prospects, the composition of the consortium itself represents a major innovation in the field of PV programs. The leadership is assumed by one of the main European industrial company in traditional tiles manufacturing representing more than direct 12 000 employees in 6 state-members, but the competence on PV technology is guaranteed by a very small non-profit making association with a long experience in domestic PV systems. These complementary experiences make it possible to develop an integrated organisation for manufacturing, marketing and associated services based on up-to-date knowledge of all technical, legal and economical issues necessary to guarantee for the final users the highest quality of materials and of services, including a global energy efficiency approach. The transfer of competence is realised through training of the commercial and technical staff of the partners on PV issues, and technical assistance. Through this European programme, the partners have the opportunity to meet and to federate many actors of the photovoltaic industry partners, suppliers and subcontractors- so they find their own place into this new business.
Dissemination activities within the PV-STARLET project had many goals: the promotion of PV, the promotion of the grid-integrated PV concept, the promotion of new products (PV-tiles marketed by the partners) and the identification of the first sites. To achieve this, many targets had also to be reached: general opinion, house owners, craftsmen of the building sector, architects and project developers. The dissemination plan had then to be as wide as possible and numerous tools were developed. The impact of these dissemination activities has clearly been positive as can attest the accumulation of trophies and rewards, awarded by the renewable energy industry as well as by the building industry. Today, dissemination activities are fully integrated into the marketing phase of the distribution of the PV-tiles by the participants of the PV-STARLET project and their partners.

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