BIPV

What is a Building Integrated Photovoltaic or a BIPV?

Building Integrated Photovoltaics serves more than one purpose. BIPVs produce electricity by the piezoelectric effect and serve as protection for any structure. 

BIPVs are installed to provide shed, block sunlight, and give a modern look to any building, all this while producing electricity from sunlight.

Where is a BIPV used?

A BIPV is integrated into a structure like conventional buildings. BIPVs replace glass windows with Solar windows, parking shed rooftops with solar roofs and solar shades in place of translucent covers. All these changes make the look of any structure modern while being extremely useful.

Types of Building Integrated Photovoltaics

Solar panels are silicon-based photovoltaic cells that produce electricity from sunlight. With micro adjustments according to the application, these cells transform into BIPVs. Based on various applications, there are broadly four types of BIPVs.

Image credit: Research Gate

• Solar-Facades: Solar Facades’ integration in building structures keeps the noise and air pollution out and gives any building a visual identity. This all while producing green energy.

• Solar-Window: Solar windows find their application both in residential and commercial properties. These windows look like any other windows but with solar modules.

• Solar-Roofs: Solar roofs like that of Tesla Energy in the USA are becoming popular. In conventional rooftops, these solar tiles replace asphalt tiles. Every tile acts as an individual cell and connects in series to generate electricity.

• PV-Sunshades: Parking lot sheds are the best example of PV-Sunshades. Additionally, these shades protect buildings from direct sunlight.

How does a BIPV work?

BIPVs use opaque or transparent solar cells connected in series to each other to give a substantial amount of current output. These photovoltaics are located in the portion of the building exposed to the sun the most.

What are big manufacturing brands of BIPVs?

Tesla Energy is one major brand in the USA backed by Elon Musk. They manufacture solar cell tiles for residential rooftops. Customers get a variety of tiles according to the required strength and size.

Some other contributors in this niche are:

• D2solar
• Mysolar USA  
• Omnis Power USA Inc  
• Redwood Renewables
• Skyco Skylights
• Solaria
• Sonali Solar USA

Manufacturers

In the simplest terms, manufacturing is the process of producing actual goods or items/products through the use of raw materials, human labour, use of machinery, tools and other processes such as chemical formulation. This process usually starts with product designing and raw material selection, turning them into an actual product output. 

Solar Products Manufacturers and Factories

In terms of solar, manufacturing encompasses the fabrication or production of materials across the solar market chain. The most common product being manufactured by solar companies are the solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which are made with several subcomponents such as solar wafers, cells, glass, back sheets, and frames. Before a solar panel comes into life, it will undergo a lot of processes, from designing, modelling, choosing what raw materials to use and then assembling them all to make the final product.

More Than Just Solar Panels

Aside from the solar panels, solar companies have many other manufactured products that are required to make solar energy systems work smoothly, like solar inverters, batteries, combiner boxes, and racking and tracking structures.

Having a solar manufacturing sector makes a big difference in supplying affordable solar energy in different areas. Aside from maintaining the rising domestic and global demand for cleaner and renewable energy, they also help the economy grow, particularly the solar industry. If you are in search of a reliable solar manufacturing company, checking out our solar outsourcing company, SolarFeeds, would help you get easy access to reliable information, news, data and a list of solar manufacturers that can help you with solar products.

Arabu

A review of Aruba’s solar market

Two years ago, the Aruban government pledged to transition to 100% renewable energy. Unfortunately, the country has not made any significant strides towards achieving this goal. The South American nation currently has a total energy installed capacity of 287 Megawatts.  Renewable energy accounts for only 11.5% of the country’s aggregate installed capacity.  

As of early 2021, Aruba’s installed solar capacity stood at 3.4 Megawatts. This figure is pretty low considering that the Island nation has immense solar potential. Nevertheless, things are looking up for Aruba’s solar market. The government recently implemented some policies and regulatory frameworks that will undoubtedly fuel the growth of the country’s nascent solar market.

Some of the policies worth noting include tax reduction, tax exemptions, and green public procurement frameworks. Aruba’s solar market is poised to become one of the most lucrative markets in South America if the government keeps supporting it. Are you a solar installer or a photovoltaic professional searching for opportunities? Aruba’s budding solar market is worth some consideration.

Aruba’s solar equipment supply capacity    

There are a substantial number of local and multinational solar equipment suppliers serving the Aruban market. They offer different categories of solar equipment, including solar panels, solar inverters, and charge controllers, to name a few. Do you need a reliable, pocket-friendly supplier?

Solarfeeds grants you access to leading equipment suppliers serving the Aruban market. It is time-consuming and challenging to traverse the country requesting quotes from various suppliers. The Solarfeeds family understands that time is a valuable commodity. Consequently, our inquiry page offers a one-stop solution.

Aruba’s ports and logistics services   

There are several ports in Aruba that facilitate the movement of goods to or from overseas markets. Therefore, you can opt to import equipment from any of the world’s leading solar markets if the need arises. Considering that the country’s infrastructure and logistics services are pretty advanced, you can comfortably deliver equipment to the project site.