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CEO of SMASHsolar Troy Tyler demonstrates his new product. Photo by Olivia Rempel.

Richmond company rolling out new solar panel design

on September 12, 2016

Richmond-based solar-panel manufacturer SMASHsolar Inc. will unveil a new type of solar panel on Tuesday that is easier to install and will significantly cut down the time it takes installers to mount them onto roofs.

While many conventional solar panels first require a mounting system to be installed on the roof by a team of trained professionals, SMASHsolar’s new product is simple enough that a contractor with minimal training could install it in about half the time. The company is launching the new panel at the annual Solar Power International conference, North America’s largest solar trade show, taking place this week in Las Vegas.

“I unpacked the reason for a lot of the cost and complexity, and a lot of it has to do with how hard it is to install,” said SMASHsolar founder and CEO Troy Tyler. “The construction guy in me started thinking about how I can make it easier to install.”

To illustrate his point, Tyler climbed onto a demo roof in the company’s headquarters near Marina Bay and snapped two solar modules together with a simple click.

According to Tyler, SMASHsolar’s product costs about the same amount as a conventional solar panel, but the reduced installation time allows home owners to save on installation costs.

Tyler was originally trained as an architectural engineer, but after working in the construction business, he entered the solar industry. He got his start in solar as a senior manager at the Richmond office of SunPower Corp., a company that designs and manufactures solar panels.

The solar industry in Richmond is beginning to take off, with industry heavyweights such as SunPower setting up local offices, and newcomers like SMASHsolar and Alion Energy starting up. There are also numerous solar installation companies, like A1 Sun and Ally Electric and Solar. SMASHsolar has been trying to differentiate itself by developing panels that are easier and cheaper to install. SMASHsolar’s current designs are frameless panels that snap together and are bolted straight into the roof.

These improvements could make a difference as the nation focuses more on solutions that could help the country reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Last November, at the international climate conference in Paris, the United States committed to reducing the country’s emissions to between 26 and 28 percent below 2005 level by 2025.

In California, legislators recently passed a law that aims to reduce fossil fuel emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. For those goals to be met, many more renewable energy projects will need to be up and running, fast, and products that simplify and speed up solar panel installation are an important next step.

Kelly Marston, SMASHsolar’s director of operations, said that its new panel has the potential to broaden the market.

“We’ve worked with roofers who aren’t trained and don’t spend all of their time installing solar, and they’ve been able to be successful with our system,” she said.

Cheryl Vaughn, executive director of Solar Richmond, a non-profit group that helps low income and under-employed Richmond residents get vocational training in the solar industry, says she welcomes technologies like SMASHsolar’s new product because it could open up new job opportunities for people locally.

Tyler said the company will first offer the panels through a pilot program before scaling up manufacturing. Once it does, he believes it could create more jobs in Richmond.

“I want to support Richmond,” says Tyler. “I think Richmond has a lot of opportunity to grow, and if we can help in some small way, that’d be great.”

8 Comments

  1. Suz on September 12, 2016 at 3:53 pm

    Congratulations to Smashsolar! This is the kind of innovative thinking that makes America great! Now if we can get Grabat’s new battery technology sourced with a great battery manufacturer, we can all have low cost energy!! Thank you to all the alternative energy gurus that have worked hard over the past 20-30 years to improve Earth friendly alternatives! You believed in clean energy and now we all see it can happen.



  2. Rob W on September 12, 2016 at 8:04 pm

    Excellent work! It wasn’t very long ago conservative nay sayers and global warming deniers were insisting solar power was simply not feasible. Many a heated battle I had on this topic. Now look at the state of the industry, and think of what the future yet holds. I’m very happy to see Richmond a part of it.



  3. Peter on September 12, 2016 at 10:28 pm

    Sure would be nice if the Marina Bay HOAs stepped up and adopted solar.



    • Leslie Tyler on September 15, 2016 at 11:24 am

      SMASHsolar would love to work with Marina Bay HOAs to bring beautiful solar systems to their communities! Just ping us at http://www.smashsolar.com/contact/ and we’ll get together.



  4. John A LINCOLN on September 26, 2016 at 6:40 am

    Continuous research, innovation and improvements in harnessing clean and safe renewable energy is promising in current and future technologies from domestic use at home, school, hospitals to space explorations.

    The world definitely needs and deserves significance focus and research in the fields renewable clean and safe application of renewable energy, particularly in the capture of sun energy.



  5. Desh Maharaj on October 3, 2016 at 10:54 pm

    hi. i am interested in setting up a PV Solar Panel Manufacturing Plant in Durban, South Africa. I would like more information on your product and how we can utilize your advancements.



    • Daniel Courselle on November 10, 2016 at 11:43 am

      I also have a new approach to solar. I have a solar roof system that needs no roofing and
      conforms to all construction standards. Simple
      to install and can add water heating.
      Great for third world countries without power.



  6. Desh Maharaj on October 3, 2016 at 10:55 pm

    Hi. we are starting a PV Solar Manufacturing business in Durban, South Africa. i would like to know how we can collaborate.



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