Tag: <span>Tesla</span>

Tag: Tesla

RT3 member Kelly Roofing goes global with first international Tesla Solar Roof

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This installation has opened up new possibilities for the next steps in solar roofing installations.

Kelly Roofing has completed the first-ever international Tesla Solar Roof installation, marking a significant milestone in green energy innovation. The Florida-based company managed negotiations, logistics and operations to extend its services into the international field, starting on the island of Nevis in the West Indies. This installation has opened up worldwide possibilities for the next steps in solar roofing installations for Kelly Roofing.

“This job is the pay off of years of work and innovation, it’s incredible to watch it come to life,” said Kelly Roofing President Ken Kelly. “Our team has been working with Tesla on building the solar roof deployment process from the ground up since they began developing it in 2019. Roofing innovation is what we do. It’s what we’ve been known for for the last fifty years at Kelly Roofing. This client, and this job have brought us to a new level and let us begin to really see the fruit of that labor.”

Installing a Tesla Solar Roof internationally required an intricate, multi-faceted and carefully honed system to complete. Kelly Roofing worked with the customer to understand their goals and negotiated a general price for the raw job. They then navigated duty and tariffs, shipping fees, customs fees, holding fees and transportation fees. The company’s prior experience in these logistics laid the groundwork for the job in Nevis and made the job seamless for the customer.

“We had the advantage of having solid shipping partners in place and a tested process, it was a matter of fitting the pieces together strategically for what this client needed,” Ken Said.

The Kelly Roofing team’s extensive experience in navigating Florida’s stringent roofing codes allowed them to navigate the legal hurdles of Nevis’s roofing regulations. The team also partnered with a local contracting team to ease relations with the government and the local community, providing on-the-job training and bringing the job to life.

The Tesla system is unique in its durability and innovation as well. It is connected to an app that is designed to be intuitive for the homeowner, helping control power consumption and usage. The roofs are also designed to last over time, making them hurricane-force-wind resistant and impact resistant to hail. Each tile is independent, allowing for expansion and contraction in extreme temperatures.

“The Tesla system gives peace of mind to our clients. We saw roofs come out of Hurricane Ian basically untouched and the Powerwall system kept up. There were entire blocks where neighbors were charging their phones at the only house with a Tesla Solar Roof because no one else had power,” Ken added.

For the homeowner, the Tesla Solar Roof came with a host of benefits, including ease of use and unmatched durability that provide an excellent return on their investment. In Nevis, the homeowner was able to take their home off-grid without interfering with the quality of their day-to-day life.

Kelly Roofing is now vetting and accepting new international Tesla Solar Roof jobs and is thankful and honored to have been a part of building this customer’s home.

Contact us today at 239.228.3276 or by email at: mail@kellyroofing.com for more information.

About Kelly Roofing

Kelly Roofing is an award-winning, Florida-based, international roofer that has been on the cutting edge of roofing innovation since 1972. They are a Top 100 Roofing Contractor and have been recognized as America’s Roofing Contractor of the Year. Kelly Roofing holds dozens of awards including the Roofing Think Tank Innovator of the Year and Fastest Growing Roofing Company in America Award. The company lives by the idea that the values of care, communication and consistency are the pathways to innovation and outstanding workmanship. Kelly Roofing is a certified Tesla Solar Roof installer and has leveraged this partnership to launch into the international solar roofing market.

RT3 members experience VR rooms and share future workforce tips at IRE 2022

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Members of the Roofing Technology Think Tank started the week of the 2022 International Roofing Expo by participating in a meetup where they learned about emerging technologies and how they will affect the roofing industry.

Tesla Solar Roofs

The group began its meetup on Monday, January 31 with several presentations. Ken Kelly, of Naples, Florida-based Kelly Roofing shared exciting updates related to Tesla Solar Roofs as his company nears their 100th installation.

Ken Kelly presents on his company’s experience installing Tesla Solar Roofs.

Automating Takeoffs

Following Ken’s presentation the topic moved on to the recent acquisition of Estimating Edge by Foundation Software. Adam Oaks, Estimating Edge CEO shared information about the acquisition and what it will mean for the advancement of technology within the roofing industry.

He then proceeded to give a demonstration of their newest program call Vector. The takeoff software automates the takeoff process, allowing users to spend more time on estimating and less on measuring, saving hours or even days.

Virtual Reality

Following the presentations, RT3 members were able to experience the power of virtual reality combined with photogrammetry to see how it has the ability to revolutionize the way we perform site inspections and even meet with our customers.

Thanks to RT# member John Kiesel of Division 7 Roofing and Imagine Technologies Group, members used Oculus VR headsets to enter virtual rooms that focused on different areas in the industry, including safety, sales and marketing and service.

For many members it was their first experience with the VR space and proved to be a fascinating adventure into what the possibilities for the future of roofing could be.

Future Workforce Panel

On the first day of the IRE, several RT3 members presented a panel titled Casting the Net for Your Future Workforce. In this session, RT3 contractor members shared how they are working with their schools, youth programs and communities to build a pipeline for the future roofing workforce. From multi-organizational apprenticeship programs to working with youth from schools who don’t want to pursue college to getting involved in the community and developing in-house training opportunities, these contractors shared what they are doing, how they got started and tips for success.

  • L-R, Charles Antis, Christee Holbrook, John Peck, Josey Parks, Karen Edwards

It was an exciting week for the RT3 members as they continue their mission to learn about new technologies and share that information with the rest of the industry.

RT3 member Kelly Roofing Is Excited To Announce Their Success With Tesla Solar Roofs

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Kelly Roofing, a Florida roofing company founded in 1972, has found success as a Tesla Certified Installer. The company installs Tesla Solar Roofs, Tesla Solar Panels and Tesla Powerwalls. Providing these services to roof owners has fit well with Kelly Roofing’s dedication to innovation and customer service.

The Tesla Solar Roof is an industry first, and the most efficient solar PV panel available. It comes with a 25-year warranty and is known for its attractive look. When coupled with a Tesla Powerwall, it provides 24-hour protection against power outages and allows homeowners to go off-grid. Tesla has also recently increased the production capacity of the Tesla Solar Roof. Kelly Roofing has been instrumental in bringing Tesla Solar Roofs to Florida. The company’s President, Ken Kelly, has received numerous awards for his innovation in the roofing industry, including RT3’s Innovator of the Year 2021, and Tesla’s products have been a crucial component of that innovation.

Kelly Roofing has installed countless Tesla Solar Roofs both in Florida and the first international Tesla Solar Roof. They’re proud to have installed a 99 kW Tesla Solar Roof, the largest ever, on one client’s home.

Interest in solar power is growing. In less than one year, Kelly Roofing sold over $12,000,000 in Tesla Solar Roofs. They’ve worked in both the residential and commercial sectors and are continually seeking to expand. Recently, Kelly Roofing published a white paper on Tesla Solar Roofs. A podcast was also released by “Not a Roofers Podcast” with details. All these resources can be found at https://kellyroofing.com/tesla-resource-form. This is an excellent resource for anyone interested in becoming a Tesla Solar Roof Certified Installer (CI). Kelly Roofing is happy to offer guidance and feedback for newcomers to the industry.

Ken Kelly, Kelly Roofing president, examines a Tesla Solar Roof tile.

Kelly Roofing has served Florida since 1972. They have helped over 60,000 roof owners save money and live a worry-free life. As the 2019 Roofing Contractor of the year, Kelly Roofing understands how to eliminate the stress of unexpected roof costs. All Kelly Roofing employees live by the core values of Care, Communicate and Consistency, allowing them to provide outstanding workmanship using the most advanced methods. To learn more about Kelly Roofing, go to www.kellyroofing.com.

But will it leak? An interesting look at installing a new Tesla roof

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By Karen L. Edwards.

California homeowner Kyle Field’s house burned in 2017 and for the rebuild, he knew that he wanted to install Tesla’s Solarglass Roof.

To start the process, Kyle made a $1,000 deposit to reserve the roof and was excited to learn that he had been accepted into the pilot for Tesla’s new home program.  His home became one of the first new-construction homes to receive the Solarglass version 2 roof.

Kyle works for CleanTechnica, a clean energy website that reports news, reviews and analysis related to the clean tech industry, so he was very interested in documenting the entire process from start to finish. He does acknowledge that Tesla’s newer version 3 is larger and easier to manufacture and install.   He and his builder worked directly with Tesla to scope the system. What is unique about the tiles is that Tesla is able to scale the system up or down by the number of photovoltaic tiles used. To scale down, they simply use non-producing glass tiles.

The Tesla project leader for Kyle’s installation worked directly with his builder to coordinate the installation timing and to communicate what their electrical needs were. Because Kyle chose not to have natural gas in the home, he wanted to get as much output from the system as possible. Solar tiles were installed on the north-, south-, east, and west-facing roof planes, not an ideal way to maximize production but for his situation it made sense.

His home has two stories, so the upper roof was installed several weeks ahead of the lower roof. Once the stucco is installed on the house, the Tesla team will return to finish the installation, connect inverters and install the Tesla Powerwalls that store the energy.

While the upper roof was being installed, Kyle got onto the roof to record a video of the installation. He shows up-close footage of the Solarglass tiles with the PV and the ones without as well as shares a look at how the tiles are attached.

Tesla believes that its Solarglass Roof is cheaper than the cost of a regular roof plus the cost of energy over a span of 25 years. But the question remains – how well will it perform when it comes to protecting the home from the elements?

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Source: RoofersCoffeeShop.

Image Credit: Chuck Field

Tesla Patent for Colored Solar Tiles

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By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

The Tesla patent is for ‘Uniformly and Directionally Colored Photovoltaic Modules.” In the patent, they explain that traditionally the color of the panels is the natural color of the solar cells embedded inside, which is usually blue, dark blue or black.

Most homeowners want to select the color of their roof, so that it complements the rest of their home. Existing methods to color the tiles, such as applying tinted glass or color encapsulation sheets can absorb a lot of sunlight and cause the PV system to perform poorly. These methods may cause the tiles to suffer from sparkle, glint or angle-dependent color. They also degrade over time, resulting in an unpleasant appearance.
Tesla’s patent states that it will produce PV roof tiles with a uniform color with little light absorption. Their method will consist of texturizing the inside surface of a glass cover and a transparent material that has a predetermined refractive index. Spherical, metal nanoparticles positioned on the inside surface can produce colors without absorbing much light.

As Tesla stated in their Q2 2017 report, “Adopting solar has historically required a degree of aesthetic compromise, but Solar Roof provides clean energy from a better-looking roof.” They are taking the aesthetics one step further and will be able to offer homeowners even more color choices.
While the company didn’t say where the new tiles would be manufactured, it most likely will be at the company’s Gigafactory2, a 1.2 million square foot facility located in Buffalo, New York. The company began manufacturing there in late 2017 and employs 800 workers to date. Their agreement with the state of New York requires them to increase that to 5,000 employers over the course of the next ten years.

Photo: Tesla

Source: RoofersCoffeeShop