The profitable green roof that puts you in the black

Thanks to the government’s all new feed-in-tariffs (FITs), building owners can now earn up to £1,600 a year with revolutionary SOLYNDRA Solar technology from supplier of cutting edge green roofing systems International Construction Bureau (ICB) Ltd – and that’s before energy savings are taken into account.

FITs pay a fixed rate of 41.3p for every kilowatt hour of energy generated by photovoltaic (PV) systems. Shaped like a grille and able to absorb the sun’s power from all angles, SOLYNDRA Solar can be combined with an alwitra EVALON White reflective membrane to absorb even more than 1000 kilowatt hours of energy.

For example, a four kilowatt hour SOLYNDRA Solar array on a south facing roof would cost £22,000 to install. This would produce on average 3,880 kilowatt hours of energy per year for the next 20 years.

The FITs would then pay out over £32,000 for this period – which, considering payback, represents a profit of over £500 a year, without including savings on energy bills. Even if only half of the energy is used in the house, the rest can be sold to the national grid for at least three pence per kilowatt hour. This represents an additional profit of over £250 a year.

Guaranteed for 25 years, the FIT scheme is here to stay. As SOLYNDRA Solar pays for itself after only twelve and a half years, building owners will enjoy a 100 percent return on their investment – a deal that makes real environmental and financial sense.

SOLYNDRA Solar has been hailed as a revolution in photovoltaic technology. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, the revolutionary system replaces the solid rectangular shape of traditional solar panel with lightweight grilles.
This enables it to harvest the sun’s energy from all angles, from the direct sun rays above to reflected light below and diffused light to the side. This greatly enhances the solar harvesting potential of a given area. Because the grilles don’t cast long shadows like conventional upright panels, they can be placed one next to the other – making for a supremely effective use of roof space.

The grille panels are made from copper indium gallium selenide – a material known for its supreme efficiency in converting the sun’s light into power. Because the grilles allow air to pass through them, they are constantly cooled. This supercharges the copper indium gallium selenide they contain, allowing them to work even more effectively – at least 20 percent more than normal crystalline arrays.

Because the grilles allow air to pass through them, there is no risk from wind. Unfixed to the roof – eliminating damage to the substrate – they can withstand winds of up to Force 12 without additional anchorage.

This also makes for astonishingly quick installation that takes a third of the time of conventional systems. Simply erected by trained professionals and connected to the building’s power supply, they don’t need any complex engineering to set up and can be fitted irrespective of the roof sealing. This reduces labour costs considerably.
Exceptionally lightweight at 16kg per sqm, SOLYNDRA Solar arrays can be installed on rooftops that can’t support heavyweight conventional photovoltaic systems. This makes it the perfect choice for low static load roofs such as those commonly found on commercial and industrial premises.

Guaranteed for 25 years – the length of the FIT scheme – SOLYNDRA Solar is the photovoltaic system that really does pay for itself – and more.  Anybody serious about getting green whilst turning their rooftops into profit centres should get in touch with the experts at ICB and make use of this next generation technology.

Established for over 30 years and supported by a nationwide network of licensed installers, ICB is the UK’s leading supplier of green roofing systems. Its other successes include Diadem Green Roof Systems and Barrial bespoke aluminium safety rails. To ensure every roof is finished to perfection, ICB also provides tailor-made fabrications from its Bournemouth factory.