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.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico: The state of the solar market

Like most territories in the Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico struggles to provide constant electricity via conventional sources. However, it has made some tremendous strides in solar energy exploitation in the last couple of years. Currently, the Island targets to attain 40% renewable energy by 2025 and 100% by 2050. This target is mainly responsible for Puerto Rico’s solar market growth over the last couple of years.

In 2017, the Island had a utility-scale installed solar capacity of 127 Megawatts and 88 Megawatts of small-scale installed capacity. In February 2021, Puerto Rico’s electric power authority requested proposals to generate 1 Gigawatt of renewable energy capacity. This reveals that the Puerto Rican solar market is poised for further growth.

 What does this growth mean for you as a solar installer or any other photovoltaic professional? Well, the development of any market always comes with vast opportunities. So, it’s accurate to say that several lucrative opportunities are waiting for you in Puerto Rico’s budding solar market.

Does Puerto Rico have the capacity to produce and supply solar equipment?  

Even though Puerto Rico is still a young solar market, it enjoys a substantial presence of solar equipment manufacturers and suppliers. If you are searching for a reliable equipment supplier in Puerto Rico, Solarfeeds has got you covered. We help prospective clientele access leading solar equipment manufacturers and suppliers in different markets, including Puerto Rico.

The best thing about choosing to work with Solarfeeds is that you don’t have to move around requesting quotes. A simple visit to our inquiry page solves all your problems. Moreover, we guarantee quality and affordable equipment. 

Ports and Logistics services in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico boasts of several major ports. It also has one of the most advanced logistics infrastructures in the Caribbean Islands. Basically, the country is every solar installer’s and photovoltaic professional’s dream-come-true.