Inmetro certifies Eternit's first fiber cement photovoltaic tile in Brazil and sales should start later this year

With Inmetro's certification, Eternit will now finalize the other changes to the tile to adapt it to the customer's profile. The sales schedule for the fiber cement photovoltaic tile should be announced later this year, with an average selling price already    

This week, Inmetro granted Eternit official registration for the first fiber-cement photovoltaic tile in Brazil, which was named Eternit Solar. After several tests were carried out at the Institute of Energy and Environment of the University of São Paulo (IEE-USP), the new photovoltaic tile now has certification under registration No. 008434/2021.

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Eternit celebrates the certification granted by Inmetro of the new fiber cement photovoltaic tile

In addition to the IEE-USP, Eternit's fiber cement photovoltaic tile, the F-140 corrugated model, also has installations at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and at the factory in Atibaia, in the municipality of São Paulo, where the tile is already produced. of concrete Tégula Solar, which was the first photovoltaic model manufactured and sold by the company, in August 2021, also already certified by Inmetro.

According to Luís Augusto Barbosa, president of Eternit, this is a technology considered revolutionary, already included in the company's strategic plan, aimed at democratizing access to solar energy through 100% renewable sources.

The president of Eternit also said that the great expectation is that the fiber cement photovoltaic roof tile manages to reach the highest market potential, since it is compatible with traditional fiber cement roof tiles.

Fiber cement photovoltaic tile technical sheet

Eternit developed the fiber cement photovoltaic tile in 2020, and since then several adaptations to its geometry have been made with the aim of allowing the incorporation of photovoltaic cells with excellence.

Eternit's New Business Development manager, Luiz Lopes, pointed out that the tile's weight remains practically the same, allowing it to be installed on pre-existing structures, without the need to carry out major modifications to the roof. Eternit Solar has an undulating geometry, being slightly flat at the starting point of the undulations, the part where the solar cells are integrated, giving rise to a single set.

The tile also has a dimension of 2,44 mx 1,10 m. When compared to the first model, made of concrete, whose maximum power is 9,16 Wp (watt-peak), the new fiber cement photovoltaic tile technology has a power greater than 142,2 Wp (watt-peak), that is, each Tile is able to generate energy with highest power level.

Lopes also said that, with that power, around 4 to 6 tiles are enough to meet the needs of a small house, maintaining the structure of the remaining part of the roof with traditional fiber cement tiles.

Marketing of Eternit Solar

As a way of evaluating performance and making further adaptations of the tile to the taste of different consumer profiles, Eternit developed a series of pilot projects, which were sent to different types of properties, such as low-income housing, communities, residential, sheds, buildings without an apparent roof, and also in commercial installations, gas stations and in projects in the rural agricultural and poultry areas.

Receiving positive feedback from the analysis of the tests through the pilot projects, Eternit will now define the schedule for selling the tile, however the estimate is that the tile will be on the market this year, at an average price that has yet to be determined. knows, but that will soon be revealed by the company.