GAF Timberline Solar Shingles vs Solar Panels: Cost, Pros & Cons

There are two main ways to install a solar power system on a residential roof. You can use traditional solar panels, which are anchored to your roof structure with a specially designed racking system, or you can use solar shingles with built-in photovoltaic cells.

High-quality solar panels can last more than 25 years, and they save hundreds of dollars per year. However, solar panels change the appearance of your home, and there are homeowners who don’t like their appearance. Solar shingles are a great option if you want to generate your own electricity but don’t like the look of solar panels on the roof.

GAF has been a leading provider of roofing materials for more than a century. They are currently owned by Standard Industries, and they have a network of over 10,000 roofing contractors across the US. In 2019, they created the GAF Energy business unit to focus on solar power systems for homes and businesses. In 2022, they launched the GAF Timberline Solar Roof, which earned more than 30 awards in less than a year.

In this guide, we will compare the GAF solar roof with traditional solar panel systems, discussing the typical costs of each option along with their pros and cons.

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Tesla Solar Roof Shingles – What’s the Current Wait Time?

There are several high-quality solar shingle roof options currently available on the market, but Tesla is arguably still a leader in brand popularity/recognition for the solar roof offering. Tesla has become a household name, and their home energy product selection also includes Powerwall batteries and traditional solar panels.

In this guide, we will focus on the Tesla solar roof, covering aspects like pricing and delivery times, while providing a comparison with other solar roofing products.

The Tesla solar roof can be considered a premium product, and this is reflected in its pricing. Due to popularity of the Tesla solar roof, you can expect long delivery times in most regions.

However, you are promised to get a solid 25-year warranty, and you can combine the solar roof with a Powerwall battery, and an EV (heavily discounted as of late) for a complete renewable energy solution.

  • The Powerwall can turn your solar roof into a 24/7 power source, storing electricity for times when the sun is not shining.
  • The system can also be sized for EV charging, and you can forget about trips to the gas station.
  • Electricity tariffs and fuel prices are both on the rise, and a Tesla solar roof with energy storage and an EV charger can help you avoid them.

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BiPV Solar Shingles Cost vs. PV Solar Panels on Traditional Rooftops

Wait, What’s A Solar Shingle?

The technical acronym: BiPV stands for Building Integrated Photovoltaics. Simply put, embedding solar cell technology into building materials. For our purposes, we stick to roofing materials, or what is known as the solar shingle and/or solar tile. Especially, since these are the type of BiPV products being designed for the residential roofing and solar market.

If needing a quick refresher on solar technology (the PV part of the equation), see our piece on solar panels. There we note that solar tech is moving in a direction to product “enough electricity to power not just a few appliances, but an entire home, including transportation.” Here, we’ll show you how.

Difference between the Solar Shingles and Panels

First key difference is size. Panels are, or can be, huge. This translates into more solar modules (and cells) being installed on the roof than a shingle can currently offer.

Which leads to the next difference, power. A solar shingle produces around 15 to 60 watts, while a crystalline PV panel, typically 18 sq. ft. generates about 250 watts.

High efficiency solar panels from companies like LG, Panasonic, and SunPower can generate up to 400 watts per panel. In general, this means that a residential PV solar panel system will produce more electricity than a BiPV shingle system.

Then there’s the elegance factor. Not only are panels big and powerful, they’re big and cumbersome. They are adhered to a roof after careful surveying to make sure the structure of the (whole) house can handle the weight. Usually rack mounted, so they stand out above the roof surface. Noticeably stand out.

Solar shingles are usually near flush with the existing roof structure and becoming more of an option to be the actual roof structure with a beauty that mimics traditional roofing.

At the time of this writing, solar shingles have a metallic finish that is distinguishable from the rest of your roof, but still less noticeable than panels.

The bottom-line difference is that currently panels are more efficient and cost effective than shingles.

While shingles are more aesthetically pleasing and gaining traction to be the primary way anyone would choose to do solar power generation on their own residence.

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