The Hungarian-developed smart solar roof tile is doing more and more

The company has carried out a significant research and development project Terrán Tetőcserép Gyártó Kft. The company further developed its own solar roof tile, the Terrán Generont, as part of an investment of approximately 828 million forints, according to the MTI information sheet. The National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIA) contributed 422.478 million forints to the development.

The project, which has been ongoing for the past four years, has been aimed at, among other things, further developing the Terrán roof tile integrated solar modules and expanding the product range

– they wrote in the announcement. We have presented the company's Terrán product, which is over 100 years old, and the Generon solar roof tile, which we have featured several times in our magazine, offering the company's own solution for renewable energy use.

Terra cotta solar roof tiles appear on the market

What makes the Generon so special is that the solar cells are integrated into the surface of the individual roof tiles in such a special way that their installation and appearance is almost identical to that of conventional roof tiles.

In addition to the existing black solar tile colour, terracotta solar roof tiles have been introduced to expand the product range, meeting the needs of a wider customer base and expanding the potential uses of the product. The latter has been achieved both by improving the operating parameters of existing products and by introducing new products not yet on the market.

Improvements to the parameters of existing products were achieved by optimising the modules to incorporate cells with improved efficiency and reduced losses, and by reducing the operating temperature of the modules.

Failure made easier to get through

The project also included the development of a new type of smart solar roof tile with a microinverter per module. In this way, the system can be retrofitted as required,

On the other hand, if a module fails, the entire system does not stop producing energy.

According to publicly available company data, the net sales of Terrán Kft. in 2023 were HUF 14.004 billion, compared to HUF 25.634 billion a year earlier. The company closed with a profit of HUF 853 million in 2023, compared to a profit after tax of HUF 4.427 billion in 2022.