Martin DeBono, president of GAF Energy, sat down with Nichola Groom of Reuters to discuss the company’s announcement that it will build a new 450,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Georgetown, Texas, to meet growing demand for the award-winning Timberline Solar™ roof. The new facility, the company’s second, will increase its capacity by 500% and bring total production of its solar shingle to 300 megawatts annually, making GAF Energy the largest producer of solar roofing in the world. Introduced earlier this year, Timberline Solar™ features the world’s first nailable solar shingle and is the only roof system to directly integrate solar technology into traditional roofing processes and materials.
Once complete, the Georgetown manufacturing facility will result in hundreds of new U.S.-based, clean energy manufacturing jobs and build on GAF Energy’s track record of delivering a best-in-class solar roof product that is assembled in America. GAF Energy’s first manufacturing facility, in San Jose, California, was completed and began production last year. As a Standard Industries company and sister company to GAF, the largest roofing and waterproofing company in North America, GAF Energy can draw on extensive manufacturing and R&D expertise, with access to the largest network of roofing partners in the industry. One out of every four new roofs in the U.S. comes from GAF, uniquely positioning GAF Energy to bring residential solar to the mass market.
The conversation with Reuters also consisted of GAF Energy’s choice for manufacturing domestically versus overseas. According to DeBono, “You can’t expect to make the same thing as everybody else in the world and be successful in a business, especially in a business as competitive as solar.”