The news that Elon Musk is now the owner of energy giant, SolarCity, is not new. But, the news that the company are looking to produce roofs made completely out of solar panels is. SolarCity are already the biggest residential solar installer in the U.S, and with Musk and their solar roof plans now about to take off, the sky is the limit.
Solar roofs, otherwise known as solar shingles were tested out by Dow Chemical back in 2011 when their launched their product Powerhouse Solar. A massive plant was built in Midland, Michigan in which to manufacture the shingles and hundreds of staff were hired to run it. But, unfortunately for Dow Chemical it was a venture that was major flop and last month Powerhouse Solar shut down its manufacturing plant and laid off the majority of workers in the solar division.
So how can Elon Musk be so sure SolarCity can succeed where others before them have failed so miserably? Musk has a vision with this new product that “It’s not a thing on the roof, it is the roof”. He is confident that these new solar roofs will open up a whole new market to the company. The new venture will run alongside the current installations on existing roofs. SolarCity are due to release two new solar products by the end of the year, one for existing roofs and one that will be integrated within the roof.
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