Solar Tile Used In Building Olympics Win
Solarcentury has offered its congratulations to Nathan Shaw the winner of SkillBuild 2012's Roof Slating and Tiling Category. Shaw, of M.A.R Roofing Services Ltd. in St Austell, used the Solarcentury C21e plain tile as part of his award winning roof, that incorporated technical features to test his roofing skills. SkillBuild, the Olympics of the construction industry, is the largest multi-trade competition in the country for construction trainees and apprentices.
The National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC), responsible for the roofing division of the competition, selected C21e for SkillBuild starting back in 2007, where it featured alongside interlocking tiles, C21e Slate followed in 2010. The solar roof tile has been installed across thousands of new and existing homes in the UK, Italy and France since its first launch 2005.
Martin White, Head of Product Management, Solarcentury said, "Congratulations to Nathan, he's one of many now working with solar helping homeowners switch to a more secure energy supply. The economics really stack up for solar, with recent research from ING showing that it's now the most attractive "˜value added extra' for house hunters. We're very keen to invest in future roofers and help them obtain the solar skills needed to meet this growing demand. Solarcentury has been supporting the NFRC and SkillBuild for over seven years, offering skills, advice and products for solar training at roofing and construction colleges across the country."
Kevin Taylor, Technical and Training Manager, NFRC said, "When designing the competition, our aim is to create something visually attractive which includes some of the modern materials and techniques now used in the industry. As soon as I saw the new C21e Plain Tile I knew it would be ideal for SkillBuild, we're delighted to have Solarcentury's support. Competitors expressed considerable interest in the system and found it very straightforward to install."
The company first launched its Queen's Award winning C21e solar electric roof tile in 2005, its C21e slate followed in 2008. Solarcentury's C21e solar electric plain tile, launched in March 2012, designed to enable solar to integrate with traditional small format plain tiles, as used on over three million roofs in the UK, so is attractive to both homeowners and house builders.
Compatible with single and double camber plain tiles, the C21e plain tile system can be fitted alongside plain roof tiles from a wide variety of manufacturers. Each tile is 50w, with 60 tiles forming a typical 3kWp system, generating 2,550kWh per year.
Available in pre-engineered system sizes of 1-4kWp, an average 3kWp system covers approximately 20 m2 of roof space and replaces over 1300 plain tiles. Systems above 4kWp can also be easily designed for larger roofs. The modular nature of C21e systems, with the ability to work around roof obstructions such as roof windows, roof vents and dormer windows, can help maximise the use of the available roof space.