New Technology Makes Solar Panels Blend Into Roof

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — They're big, they're clunky, and they're a little ugly, but they'll save you money. Solar panels have always been the environmentally-friendly eyesore of suburbia, but now Angelenos can go solar without the eyesore.

Southern California solar company Bright Life Solar recently secured the rights to install SolarSkin, designed by Sistine Solar. It's a product developed by MIT engineers that can match solar panels to the roofs they are installed on. SolarSkin is a thin film coated with ultra-durable graphics that is laid on top of solar panels — making them more durable while also blending into the roof they are installed on.

The technology allows light to filter through the SolarSkin, while also displaying the image, with minimal loss in efficiency of the solar panels themselves.

"We all know someone who has said solar panels are too ugly to install on their roof," Joey Mendelsohn, who works with Bright Life Solar, told Patch. "Now you can match your solar panels to your roof, so they blend in."

The only thing needed to create a custom graphic to be printed onto the SolarSkin is a cell phone photo of the roof in sunlight. It is very easy to color match, and is a simple, streamlined process, said Mendelsohn, who is known as Eco Joe.

But if customers want to get creative with logos, designs or prints, that is also an option, he said. Plus, installing solar panels will save customers money over by reducing their dependency on the utility providers, Mendelsohn said.

"We all have a social responsibility to do the right thing," he said. "If we want our future generations to have a beautiful planet, it's important to look at the different ways to reduce our carbon footprint and dependability on single-use products."

SolarSkin, which Mendelsohn calls "the greatest thing since sliced bread," comes in three different levels of light transmission: 80 percent, 85 percent and 90 percent. The more opaque the SolarSkin layer is, the less light transmission will be able to filter through the skin. So 80 percent light transmission will be more opaque and allow for more vibrant color matches, but will be slightly less efficient than its 90 percent counterpart, he said.

In order to get to 100 percent efficiency, additional solar panels are needed. However, there are more than just aesthetic perks to SolarSkin — it acts as a protective layer, shielding the solar panels underneath from harsh UV rays, which can prematurely degrade solar cells, Mendelsohn said. It enhances the long-term durability of solar panels, he said. If a customer chooses the 85 percent light transmission option, it will extend the life of the panels by "about 15 percent," Mendelsohn said.

"We received a $1 million award from the Department of Energy to develop it, and we successfully passed a ton of extreme weather condition tests, such as accelerated aging conditions," he said. "It really is engineered to last, and it's an amazing product."

Those who add solar panels to their homes or businesses before the end of 2019 will receive a 30 percent federal tax credit. Next year, it will be reduced to 26 percent, and then fall to 22 percent in 2021.

Bright Life Solar will be at the 11th Annual Beer and Wine Festival at the Trump National Golf Course in Palos Verdes this Sunday, August 18.