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Colored solar panels that mimic tiles roof hit 95% efficiency compared to regular solar tiles
(interestingengineering.com)
this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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20% is what standard photovoltaics were doing a decade ago. I cannot wait until these are standard on all roofs in a few decades.
Edit: Yes I know the title is misleading, I'm saying these colored roof tiles are performing on par with the setup many Americans installed 10 years ago at the height if the subsidies.
It's 95% of regular panels, so it's 5% worse.
I would go with regular panels in that case, unless they are shaped like tiles and can provide better coverage of the roof. 5% efficiency drop but 15% coverage increase could be worth it. But I expect install costs would be quite a bit higher
They still are, on average. This headline is just poorly worded or outright misleading.
Imagine this + electric cars working as grid storage.
The article talks about colored graphics that can be applied to a panel. So not panels that are shaped like tiles. So they are still normal panels but with colors on them. So these are probably usefully for facades, like the side of a tall building.