This terracotta roof is made of solar cells

Lorenz Keller

18-8-2025

Translation: machine translated

The new solar tiles from Jackery can hardly be distinguished from conventional tiles from a distance. The manufacturer is presenting them at the IFA tech fair - along with other innovations.

Solar cells on the roof have so far been very conspicuous. Not everyone likes them - and in some places, there are also strict regulations on how houses must be designed in relation to the townscape.

This is where the new solar roof tiles from Jackery could be a solution. They were announced at the beginning of the year and can now be seen at the IFA tech fair in Berlin from 5 September - along with other innovations.

Tiles with efficiency of up to 25 per cent

The corrugated tiles are available in two colours: obsidian black or terracotta. And according to the manufacturer, they can be combined with 90 per cent of common mounting systems. This means that the old tiles can simply be replaced with the solar panels during a renovation.

The silicon solar cells are 0.13 millimetres thin, which makes the tile design possible. According to the manufacturer, they should still achieve an efficiency of 25 per cent and thus generate 170 watts of power per square metre of roof. The efficiency is excellent compared to the 15 to 25 per cent that is common today. This is also due to the curvature, which allows a good angle of irradiation for one area of the cells at a time throughout the day. Incidentally, the electrical contacts are all located on the back of the cells and are therefore not visible.

Jackery has not yet announced the price and exact release date of the solar tiles.

Power station in a flat format

The manufacturer from the USA is also showcasing a compact power station for travelling at IFA. The Explorer 500 v2 is equipped with LiFePO4 batteries with a capacity of 512 Wh and a maximum output of 500 watts. The batteries are designed to withstand 6000 charging cycles. The power station can be charged in 80 minutes at the socket. Alternatively, solar panels can also be connected directly.

According to the manufacturer, this power is built into a specially compact and lightweight housing for the first time - ideal for camping or outdoor activities, for example. The power station has two normal sockets, two USB-C ports with 100 and 30 watts, a USB-A port and a 12-volt port. This allows up to six devices to be charged or operated simultaneously.

Price and release date of the Explorer 500 v2 are not yet known.

The Jackery HomePower 2000 Ultra is a different story. The balcony power station is available for around 1000 euros or francs. The device is a home storage unit with LiFePO4 batteries that has a capacity of 2 kWh. It can be expanded to up to 8 kWh.

Two MPPT PV inputs can be used to connect solar panels with a maximum output of 2000 watts. Caution: If you want to install large solar panels on the balcony, you should check the local legal situation beforehand.

An intelligent fire protection system is built into the huge battery. Charging and energy management can be controlled via an app. Individual end consumers can also be specifically connected and controlled to increase the proportion of self-consumption.

Lorenz Keller

Senior Editor

Lorenz.Keller@digitecgalaxus.ch

Gadgets are my passion - whether you need them for the home office, for the household, for sport and pleasure or for the smart home. Or, of course, for the big hobby next to the family, namely fishing.

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