It's a slightly weird proposition, in that, well, pitched roofs last about 50 to 100 years, typically (at least here; I gather it _is_ somewhat different in the US due to different materials and building standards). So you probably don't really _want_ to prematurely replace your whole roof, so your market is basically... people who happen to need a roof replaced right now?

They also appear to have been _extremely_ expensive. Like on the order of 10x the cost of a conventional solar installation.

Conventional solar panels look perfectly fine to me, FWIW.