Englerts Solar Sandwich combines PV, solar hot water in metal roofs

There are plenty of ways to get more out of your roof, but metal roofing company Englert, Inc. is offering the Solar Sandwich, which combines flexible thin-film photovoltaics with a solar thermal system that can heat water for the building, and it integrates seamlessly into a metal roof.

“What we’ve done is we’ve combined with our metal roof and PV. The concept has been around for a while. We just put it all together and called it the Solar Sandwich,” said Jerry Heininger, Englert’s environmental program director.

Englert is among a growing number of companies, including Dow Solar, which are working to make home solar integrate more into the standard roof. For instance, Dow recently introduced its POWERHOUSE Solar Shingles, which resemble standard asphalt roof shingles. If successful these companies may change how solar integrates into people’s homes.

“It’s not inexpensive,” Heininger said. But the whole system is eligible for the federal rebate as well as state rebates and other incentives.

People have asked to see examples of the system, but that’s somewhat difficult, according to Heininger.

“There’s not anything to look at because what you’re going to see is a metal roof,” said Heininger.

The modules consist of Englert’s SunNet thin-films, which are laminates that fit in the width of a standard metal seam roof. The solar thermal layer is underneath that. The solar thermal unit is filled with a glycol water mix that is used to pre-heat water for hot water in the home. In all, the system weighs about 4 pounds per square foot.

“Everything can be installed as one unit,” Heininger said.

The system can reduce a home’s energy bill between 20 percent and 80 percent, the company said.

The product is offered through a strategic partnership with Dawn Solar, according to Heininger. It began offering it about a year ago.

“It’s opened up a new market,” he said. “Englert traditionally, up to the last couple of years, has been a metal roofing company. This opens up a whole new avenue to our metal roofing installers.”