Once a system has been registered, Centrosolar offers the operator a 30-year linear performance warranty and a 15-year product warranty. The S-Class Vision is fitted with thermally hardened solar glass sheets on both the front and back of the panel. This prolongs the service life of the panel, allowing Centrosolar to extend standard market guarantees beyond the usual of 26 years (performance) and 10 years (product). Despite the additional glass sheet, the panel remains as light as a comparable glass/foil system. These advances were made possible by Centrosolar glass technology. Improved thermal hardening techniques allowed our glass specialists to reduce the thickness of the front glass sheet from 3.2 mm to 2.6 mm.
Although the front sheet is thinner, the S-Class Vision as a whole is significantly more rigid than a traditional glass/foil panel. Using solar glass on the front and rear of the panel produces a highly stable glass bonding system which provides optimal protection to the solar cells and improves panel resistance to environmental influences. Traditional glass/foil panels feature a foil on the rear side, which becomes brittle over time due to UV radiation, weather exposure and gases in the air. This limits the lifespan of the panel.
The newly developed S-Class Vision uses glass as the primary construction material, and lasts as long as the roofing itself. “A service life of 30 years should be seen as a lower limit. The panels are expected to last much longer,” says Johannes Kneip, Managing Director of Centrosolar AG. “This is of particular interest to system operators who consume the power from the roof panels themselves. Even today, it is already more economically viable to use solar power yourself, rather than feed it back into the grid. This tidy advantage only increases each time power prices go up. Assuming annual inflation of 3 per cent, after 20 years, power costs would be only half those of supply from a third party. Each additional year only increases this advantage. This value becomes abundantly clear in the returns.”
In additional to the extended service life, the S-Class Vision is also a high-end product in terms of aesthetics. Because the panel has no frame, the system blends in perfectly with the roof’s surface. The black laminated rear panel, black panel clamps and frameless installation improve the aesthetic effect of the solar system on the roof. The result is a highly attractive solar installation that delivers real added value. The system is oriented towards all system operators who place high demands on technology with a long service life and value the attractive appearance of a roof-mounted solar installation. The S-Class Vision also offers architects a broad scope for design.
Centrosolar offers the panels in both on-roof and in-roof system versions. The latter can entirely replace roofing tiles, if desired. The S-Class Vision is available immediately.
About Centrosolar
With locations in Hamburg, Paderborn and Kempten in the Allgäu, Centrosolar AG is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Munich-based Centrosolar Group AG. The Centrosolar Group is an international company with over 1,000 employees and annual sales of €300 million (2011). All of the subsidiaries offer products and solutions for converting solar energy into electricity. The product range includes photovoltaic (PV) systems, PV mounting systems, solar glass and project planning for PV systems in the megawatt range. The Centrosolar Group operates a panel production facility in Wismar, Germany (annual capacity: 350 MWp) as well as solar glass production facilities in Germany and China (total capacity: 8 million m² of glass). Subsidiaries are located in Germany, France, Italy, Greece, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the US and Canada.
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