Ubbink Group, an internationally operating manufacturer and supplier of building-integrated solutions for energy efficiency and a healthy indoor climate, is taking over the assets of Systaic AG, which went into involuntary liquidation in December 2010. Ubbink and Systaic each developed an Energy Roof separately from one another, a roof that serves as an energy provider, using Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal modules.
By means of this strategic acquisition, Ubbink, which is part of listed company CENTROTEC Sustainable AG, is reinforcing its role in Solar technology and seizing a position at the forefront of the European market.
The Systaic Energy Roof ranks as the foremost solution on the market in terms of design and aesthetic qualities and has already been installed in many European countries for a variety of renovation and new development projects. Where Ubbink primarily serves the renovation and redevelopment market with its flexible, building-integrated solution, Systaic Energy predominantly concentrates on new development.
Jacko van der Stege (CEO, Ubbink Group): “The takeover of those assets relevant to Energy Roof, including a number of vital patents in particular, sees Ubbink having everything we need in-house to offer a full range of products in this growing and primarily future-oriented market segment.”
For the time being, Energy Roofs are rare, even in ‘solar pioneer’ Germany. But just as the skylight has come to conquer our sloping roofs since the 1970s, so too there is an increasing number of solar energy generation systems to be found on our sloping roofs. Together with flue pipes, roof ducts and skylights they create a veritable patchwork quilt of roof-mounted equipment. And it is exactly here that an Energy Roof makes the difference by combining all these elements to create a sound, aesthetically pleasing whole.
“The acquisition of Systaic’s products and patents has turned Ubbink into Europe’s most important supplier of integrated energy roofs in one fell swoop”, continues Van der Stege. “The purpose of the roof changes from one of protection against the elements to being an integral part of a building’s energy supply.”
The Systaic Energy Roof combines photovoltaic and solar thermal panels to create an aesthetically pleasing tour de force unrivalled in terms of both design and looks, as evidenced by the great many prizes the Energy Roof has already attracted too, including the prestigious ‘Innovation Award for Architecture and Building’ in 2009, first prize in the Gold category in the world’s largest Construction and Architecture trade show BATIMAT and first prize in the category ‘Photovoltaic Installations’ for exceptional architecture from French association Qualit’EnR.
This development has resulted in a full range of products in the field of solar energy, from a module manufactured in the Netherlands to mounting systems for sloping and flat roofs. The Energy Roof is an amalgamation of various technologies, with design and aesthetic qualities being of paramount importance. These elements are increasingly important in the design of buildings. It could be argued that the Energy Roof is providing a dual increase in the value of property – on the one hand by generating energy, and on the other by lending the building a well-balanced aesthetic design. Ubbink Energy Roof, the roof as energy supplier, not the future but reality.