Volt Solar Tile Update: CEO Peter Leeson on Batteries, EV Chargers, and Australian Expansion

Volt CEO Peter Leeson and I caught up on Teams this afternoon to discuss the progress of the Volt solar tile. You will have read about his revolutionary product on CleanTechnica here and here.

When we last spoke, two years ago, Peter was all set to launch his product on the US market. A lot can happen in two years. One of the catastrophes has been Trump’s re-election. Peter had designed his tile so that Volt integrated with the concrete roof tile of Westlake Royal Roofing, part of NYSE-listed Westlake Corporation. But after T-day, renewables faced too many headwinds: “no one wanted to touch renewables at that time.”

He is now focussed on the Australian market, and the solar distribution business. Interestingly, one of our readers suggested this in the comments to our last article. After the introduction of the Australian government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program, Peter tells me that many solar companies got involved with selling batteries.

To compete, Volt has pivoted to selling directly to consumers, homeowners, architects, and builders — and providing the whole ecosystem, not just solar tiles but also electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps, and batteries. This has led to increased revenue and the ability to close more projects. Market demand is apparently being driven by batteries.

During 2025, Volt worked hard to reduce manufacturing costs and expand into utility scale projects. Watch this video where Peter explains the opportunity to power regional towns. “Too small for major developers, but too large to rely on rooftop solar alone.” Volt now supplies consumer energy to homeowners through the Volt solar tile and batteries, and provides storage and utility-scale energy to support those homeowners and regional towns, storing energy generated by solar roofs and excess energy exported to the grid.

Peter’s largest development to date is the 520 MW AC solar and battery hybrid Corop Solar Farm, developed by Leeson Group. Peter is now bringing those skills to Volt by developing and building 5 MW solar and battery farms.

Volt has now installed in six countries across four continents, including an install in Argentina in early 2026. The focus remains primarily Australia, but Volt continues to see demand for the product across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.

Volt now manages the entire project quote: solar tiles, heat pump, EV charger, plus the roofing build. “We are focussed on the quality of the customer experience, giving one point of contact,” Peter tells me. “The new Volt tile integrates with the regular tile, with double glass (3.2 mm + 3.2 mm) and M12 cells instead of M6. Lower cost, higher tech. The solar tile is 240 mm wider.”

Peter is still keen to onshore manufacturing in Australia. At the moment, Volt tiles are made in China. “Perhaps when we get significant growth in volume. At present there is only one manufacturing company in Australia, Tindo, and we would love to work with them.”

So far, Volt has installed fifty roofs across Australia. Peter explains: “New home enquiries take a couple of years, from architecture, planning permit, finance, builder, etc. Sydney and Melbourne are our main markets, with many older houses being reroofed. They have been maintained over many years with pointing and tile repair, but the owners are now sick of a leaking roof. When they decide to reroof, they can come to Volt to do the whole show — EV charger, heat pump, solar roof, battery.” The more roofs that are done, the larger the awareness footprint grows. One builder who uses the Volt solar roof is fielding a lot of enquiries about the product alone.

I asked Peter about return on investment. “Every home is different,” he hedged. “But if you are reroofing already, then you would be spending AU$40,000–50,000 to get the job done. Adding solar tiles is not much more, perhaps 10–15%.” Many homeowners (myself included) have found that solar and battery take about 6 years to pay for themselves.

With the ever-evolving electricity generation and supply situation in Australia, customers are faced with many options. There is the free power for three hours option. There are cheap plans during the night which are almost free. I wonder how long cheap nightime power will last, as we phase out coal-fired power stations. Some homeowners get involved in arbitrage, selling power back to the grid during high-demand times. Then, there is talk about vehicle to grid, using your EV battery. Batteries from wrecks are used for home power stations.

“There are lots of ways to utilise power,” Peter observes, “and Volt is integrated with all available technologies. We can assess a homeowner’s needs through personal consultation. We find it is better to have a person that you can ask. AI is getting in the way of the process.”

I asked Peter if he could supply a testimonial, and he sent me this story of a satisfied customer in Brisbane, Queensland:

“The Volt system is light years ahead of our previous system. From a performance perspective, in the first three weeks of the Volt system coming online, our electricity bill reduced by 70%, and so far, the system has continued to exceed our expectations on performance. Our solar batteries are fully charged, and the house runs on solar during the day while we export power to the grid. The tiles look great and integrate with the roof tiles, making it low profile and enhancing the home’s curb appeal.

“Volt is a solar roof that generates clean energy without the ugly solar panels. The tiles are the roof: they interlock with conventional roof tiles to form one seamless roof plane, so the home looks like it has a beautifully finished roof, and that roof is quietly powering the house. A 15 kW Volt roof generates around 34 kWh a day in winter and close to 90 kWh a day in summer, more than most large homes use, and it does it for the life of the roof.”

Peter went on to explain: “Volt systems use hybrid inverters that connect the roof, a 24 to 27 kWh home battery and a 12.5 kW DC electric vehicle charger on a single DC bus, so energy moves from roof to battery to car with almost no loss. The electricity saving comes first from the clean energy the roof generates, which runs the home by day and fills the battery for the evening and overnight. From 1 October 2026 the hybrid inverter also charges at high capacity from the grid for free during the Victorian 11am to 2pm solar saver period, up to 24 kWh a day. With the roof and the free window keeping the battery full, the system then discharges into the homeowner’s EV, so the car runs on energy that cost nothing and the fuel bill falls to zero. The battery also provides backup power when the grid goes down, and whatever the home does not use is exported into the evening peak when it is worth the most.

“The results are already showing up on bills. Some of our customers are seeing their grid usage fall to zero, with savings of $4,800 a year on electricity and a further $3,200 a year on fuel, around $8,000 a year back in the household budget from a roof they needed anyway. That is the Volt proposition for homeowners and investors alike: the roof pays, the car runs for free, and none of it is visible from the street.”

As Volt expands, it is seeking further crowdfunding — you can read the details here.

Thank you, Peter! I used to joke that I had a petrol station on my roof, but as time goes on, it is becoming a power station. My house can generate all the power it needs. In Australia, the future is brighter and electric!