Sunroof: a world run on sun

Sunroof is transforming the solar industry by integrating photovoltaic cells directly into roof structures, combining efficiency with aesthetics. Their innovative solution helps homeowners and businesses reduce energy costs and carbon footprints. With financing from World Fund, backed by the EIF through InvestEU, Sunroof is scaling up its impact and expanding into virtual power plants for a more sustainable energy future.

Volatile energy markets and skyrocketing electricity prices have led many European consumers to consider renewable sources of energy to meet their needs. And the European solar industry is looking to play its part in satisfying consumer demand as well as contributing to Europe’s long-term sustainability goals.

Integrated rooftop solution

For Stockholm-based SunRoof, the sky is the limit. Their ambitious aim is to replace traditional roofs with solar roofs, a bespoke option that combines roof tiles with photovoltaic cells into one seamless structure. Unlike traditional solar panels, SunRoof is integrated into the entirety of a building’s roof structure, offering an aesthetically harmonious alternative to the individual black or blue solar panels that already dot Europe’s solar landscape. As SunRoof CEO Lech Kaniuk explains, the company’s solar roofs manage to strike the right balance between form and function. “SunRoof is building integrated solar roofs, which have many benefits. Aesthetically, they are superior to photovoltaic panels. And since they are integrated, you can build edge-to-edge,” rather than having unused gaps at various points in a roof.

Energy infrastructure tends to be very old. We need to be able to adjust to consumers producing their own cheaper energy. ”

- Lech Kaniuk, CEO

Growth and real impact

Thanks in part from an equity investment via the World Fund, a German venture capital firm backed by the EIF under the InvestEU programme, SunRoof has grown significantly and is already having a positive impact for European consumers and the environment: “We have customers in Germany who are already completely independent from the grid for up to three months during the summer months.”

Sky is the limit

In addition to residential construction, Lech’s innovative offering has found its way onto some unexpected roofs. “A pig farmer decided to use our solution since we could fit more power into his roof.” Elsewhere, a church and even a McDonald’s now benefit from increased energy efficiency and a lower carbon footprint. “Fewer materials means that the roof is lighter, which broadens the range of buildings that can take advantage of this technology. We make it more accessible for a broader range of buildings to have solar power on their roofs.”

As the company looks to the future, its strategic plans include expansion into virtual power plants, which could contribute to more affordable, secure, and sustainable energy for Europe. The team is also planning to digitalise its processes, with a customer-facing energy dashboard to be released by end-2023.