Heritage, seamlessly powered in red

Installing photovoltaics on a historic building not only improves its energy performance but can also enhance its visual appeal. Blending with the roof’s shade of red, this state-of-the-art in-roof solar-system preserves the building’s character of the historical school in Ludwigsburg.

Tone in tone with the roof

It is an outstanding building ensemble, creating an L-shaped campus of two houses from different eras: The community school of Ludwigsburg combines a two-storey historic building with a gabled roof from 1934 and a three-storey extension built in 1964 with a flat roof; a cuboid annex with PV-modules on its flat roof adds a modern touch to the historic ensemble.

Although not being a listed monument, the campus with its distinctive shape influences the cityscape remarkably. Being renovated several times and already being energetically upgraded, the next step was to renovate the roof surfaces – combined with the city’s wish to use the roof areas for renewable energy.

Smooth connection

The roof needed to be completely renewed – that involved a total removal of the old tiles, a new underlay membrane to keep out unwanted animal nesting and a visually fitting in-roof photovoltaic-solution. The decision fell on the large-format clay roof tiles Alegra 8 Red Engobe combined with the Wevolt X-Frame PV solution in red. The roof tiles feature a striking yet cost-efficient design and can be seamlessly integrated with a roof-integrated PV system.

During a previous project on a listed building, the city of Ludwigsburg had already worked with wienerberger which is why they chose to collaborate again. Together with an in-roof PV specialist they planned the energy roof to meet the electricity needs while maintaining an elegant roofscape in style and colour. Thorough planning was essential, with particular attention given to the precise interfaces between tiles, modules and their framing to ensure clean, seamless transitions.

Integrated PV, elevated design

The photovoltaic system consists of 129 red modules, resulting in a total capacity of 49.02 kWp or up to 49,000 kWh per year. The solution was found by using a complete in-roof PV solar system with included mounting setup, ensuring a smooth and efficient installation. The roof-integrated solution includes the water-draining layer, making additional installation unnecessary. This is where good planning became apparent: the sheet metal elements that frame the modules laterally and between one another required precise cutting and adjustment, as every element needed to be exactly matched to the system and the roof geometry.

The in-roof PV system integrates almost invisible into the roof: matching the Alegra 8 Red Engobe roof tiles, the in-roof solar solution was seamlessly installed and created a tone-in-tone surface. Its compatibility with all roof coverings, the Wevolt X-Frame PV can be placed on all roof types and with the new red colour its scope becomes limitless. The project demonstrates how renewable energy can be effectively integrated into a traditional roof. The result is a visually calm, homogeneous red roof with a high-performance PV system – making a significant contribution to the school’s electricity supply.