The first installation of Bender SunWave has just been completed at a townhouse outside Stockholm. Bender SunWave are solar panels fully integrated with roof tiles and the result of a collaboration between solar energy technology firm Midsummer and Swedish roof manufacturer Benders.
Midsummer WAVE is sold as a complete replacement roof or can be retrofitted to existing tiles. Image: Midsummer
“If you didn’t know, you would never believe that there are solar panels on the roof – it looks like just any beautiful shingled roof”, said Benders CEO Ove Bender.
In May last year, Midsummer announced a new and unique solar panel solution specifically developed for Sweden’s most popular 3-barrel roof tile, the Bender Palema. Since October, deliveries of customised solar panels that precisely follow the shape of these roof tiles have streamed from Midsummer’s newly opened production facility at its headquarters in Järfälla just north of Stockholm, Sweden and now the first end customer installation is complete.
”Interest for Bender SunWave has been overwhelming and we are pleased to now announce that the very first successful installation,” said Ove Bender, CEO, Benders. “The installation was straight forward and trouble free and the shingled roof blends in incredibly well in the neighbourhood. The panels are so inconspicuous that you wouldn’t believe that there are actually solar panels on such an attractive roof!”
The customise solar panels are brought to the market by Benders under the brand Bender SunWave and are installed as easily on an existing roof as on a new roof, resulting in completely integrated solar panels that are not visible or noticeable in any other aspect than that they turn the roof into an energy producer.
”The great interest for Palema SunWave and our other building integrated solar products proves that solar panels are becoming like any other building material with natural high expectations on both technical performance and aesthetics,” said Sven Lindström, CEO, Midsummer. “For us and our customers, it is instrumental to develop and supply solar roofs that are beautiful, which often means as invisible as possible to accentuate the natural beauty of the roofs. This is a key feature that our thin film technology enables but that framed silicon panels simply cannot achieve.”
The partnership with Benders is part of Midsummer’s new strategy to develop and manufacture solar panels both in-house and via contract manufacturers for sale through selected partners, in addition to the company’s core business of producing equipment for the manufacturing of solar cells.
Midsummer’s DUO system has taken the position as the most widespread manufacturing tool for flexible CIGS solar cells in the world. Midsummer is today world leading in the production of light, flexible, robust solar panels with high energy density.
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