The BIPV era has come, but excellent BIPV products are still on the way

Replacing traditional energy with clean energy and promoting the transformation of the energy structure as soon as possible is the most effective way to control carbon emissions. Among the various types of clean energy at present, due to the rapid progress of photovoltaic technology in the past ten years, it has driven the rapid decline of photovoltaic power generation costs, making it the most economical and potential clean energy type. The analysis of many well-known research institutions indicates that in the middle of this century, human society will realize a completely clean energy supply, of which photovoltaic power generation will account for more than 60%. This also fully proves the huge responsibility that photovoltaic power generation will bear in society.

BIPV-the "New Generation of Photovoltaics" spawned by the huge distributed market

Among the two main application modes of photovoltaic power generation, distributed photovoltaic power generation has developed rapidly in recent years. Distributed photovoltaic power has more practical significance especially for countries such as my country with a vast territory, different economic development levels, and uneven resource distribution.

Distributed photovoltaics are close to the power load center and directly connected to the distribution network system. This makes the power generation of distributed photovoltaics do not need to pass through long-distance, multi-level grids, and cross-regional transmission. Photovoltaic power generation is lost during transportation and is an efficient form of photovoltaic power utilization.

Among the many distributed power generation application modes, the industrial and commercial rooftop distributed power station is the most potential form. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to May 2018, the national industrial electricity accounted for more than 67% of the total electricity consumption, and the national industrial building area exceeded 6 billion square meters. If these building roofs are used to install photovoltaic power generation, the installation of photovoltaic products can reach more than 900GW by which can about 1,080 billion kWh of clean electricity can be generated each year, while the total social power consumption in 2019 is about 7,222.5 billion kWh. In other words, if the roof area of national industrial buildings can be used for photovoltaic power generation, the electricity generated each year can meet more than one-seventh of the electricity consumption of the whole society, and its potential is evident.

It is under the combined effect of these factors that distributed photovoltaic power generation has developed rapidly in China in recent years, and the use of vacant industrial and commercial roofs to build distributed photovoltaic power plants has become the unanimous choice of more and more business owners. The traditional industrial and commercial distributed photovoltaic power station construction is mainly based on the installation of photovoltaic module products on the roof of the building. In recent years, with the strong support of countries around the world for green buildings and the continuous progress of photovoltaic technology, integrated building photovoltaic (BIPV) products that combine distributed photovoltaic power generation with building materials have begun to appear.

BIPV products are building materials with photovoltaic power generation capabilities. Compared with traditional roof photovoltaic systems, BIPV products can not only meet the functional requirements of photovoltaic power generation but also take into account the functional requirements of buildings. It is a combination of photovoltaic products and building materials and can replace some traditional building materials. These new features have also caused BIPV to attract more and more attention from the market. Various BIPV products have also sprung up and become the "new generation" of the photovoltaic product family.

Above the vent, can "they" who are covered with "pain points" soar?

In recent years, a large number of BIPV products have been on the market, with different types and forms. On the one hand, the rich product selection provides customers with more choices and forms for building green and low-carbon buildings and building distributed photovoltaic power stations; the sale of BIPV products also highlights some common pain points.

Without core photovoltaic technology: BIPV products are building materials that provide photovoltaic power generation capacity, so their power generation capacity is a key indicator to judge the quality of the product. At present, most manufacturers of commercially available products do not have a complete industrial chain in the photovoltaic field, do not have strong technical research and development capabilities, and do not have effective technical support. They cannot guarantee that their products are equipped with cutting-edge photovoltaic technology and materials, and cannot provide efficient and stable products. product. Some products even still use backward technologies that have been eliminated in the field of photovoltaic modules, with low conversion efficiency and poor power generation performance, and the power generation period cannot be guaranteed.

Poor fire resistance: A considerable part of BIPV products currently on the market are simply modified to install ordinary photovoltaic modules as BIPV products. Such products cannot be installed directly as building materials and cannot meet the requirements of building materials. Especially in terms of fire resistance, its material characteristics and product composition determine that it does not have fire resistance, and it cannot pass relevant performance tests. The hot spots and DC arcing of photovoltaic modules during the power generation process are more likely to directly cause fire accidents. As a building material, BIPV is fundamentally safe, and BIPV products that cannot guarantee fire performance let alone safety.

Poor waterproof performance: As far as my country is concerned, the economically developed central and eastern regions are the main markets for distributed photovoltaic power generation and BIPV products. These areas are also areas with more complex climate and environment in my country, with high rainfall and frequent heavy rainfall, which have extremely high requirements on the waterproof performance of building materials. At present, many BIPV products on the market are installed by splicing or simple lap joint plus self-tapping screw point type fixing. There are many nodes, poor reliability, no special locking structure, waterproof performance cannot be guaranteed, and high risk of water leakage.

Maintenance is difficult: Most of the BIPV products on the market have low strength and are prone to cracking of the cells after stepping on them. Therefore, it is necessary to reserve maintenance channels on the roof during installation. On the one hand, the maintenance channel reduces the roof installation area and is inconvenient for robot maintenance. On the other hand, directly stepping on the roof will easily lead to water leakage, and the maintenance process is complicated and difficult to maintain; but at the same time, commercial BIPV and BAPV products tend to accumulate dust on the edge of rain troughs and modules, which may cause loss of power generation and power attenuation , Requires long-term maintenance; in this case, the difficulty of maintenance and the need for long-term maintenance form a sharp conflict.

Poor product heat dissipation: Another common problem faced by BIPV products currently on the market is heat dissipation. The characteristics of photovoltaic power generation lead to the generation of heat during the power generation process. Currently, commercially available products rarely have special ventilation and heat dissipation designs. The heat generated during the power generation of the product will be further transferred to the lower building, causing the temperature in the building to rise and the temperature to drop inside the building. The required energy consumption is further increased.

Brand reliability is weak: BIPV's broad market prospects have also caused many manufacturers to swarm up. Market competition is mixed. The quality of some small manufacturers is worrying, and the power generation, service life and even basic safety are not guaranteed. The status of the BIPV market today is also very similar to the photovoltaic module market many years ago, and the chaos in the module market eventually led to the elimination of many small manufacturers without core advantages in the cruel market competition. The disappearance of enterprises also led to after-sales service and quality assurance is completely empty talk.

How to define an excellent BIPV product

Although there are still some common pain points and shortcomings in the current commercial BIPV products, it can be seen that with the continuous intensification of climate problems and the increasing recognition of clean energy transition in the whole society,the application of photovoltaic power generation will become broader  including distributed photovoltaic power generation . With the use of a series of new technologies such as microgrids, virtual power plants, virtual synchronous machines, and the continuous expansion of "photovoltaic +" applications, the distributed photovoltaic market, especially BIPV products, will have huge room for development. So how should we define an excellent BIPV product? From the perspective of the core requirements of the product itself, it should at least meet the following characteristics:

It is a stable and efficient photovoltaic product, equipped with leading photovoltaic technology, has deep photovoltaic technology precipitation and industrial chain advantages, can transform the industry's latest photovoltaic technology into the BIPV product field, and has reliable and stable long-term power generation capacity and profitability.

It is a safe and reliable building material that can always ensure safety and stability in harsh climatic environments. It has strong fireproof, waterproof, lightning and wind resistance. It has passed strict professional testing and certification, and can even further improve the life of the building part.

It is a well-designed high-quality product that fully considers product application scenarios and maintenance requirements in the design. It has good heat preservation and heat dissipation capabilities, has a strong load capacity, can be stepped on, is easy to maintain, and integrates user needs into every detail of the design.

It has a stable and reliable brand gene, from the world's leading photovoltaic companies, inherits the dual genes of leading technology and stability, with leading R&D capabilities and stable financial conditions, and providing customers with better products and products with long-term stability and more assured service.

Undoubtedly, under the new round of energy revolution and new technological revolution, greening to reduce building energy consumption and improve building environmental friendliness will become the development trend of the future construction field, and BIPV products will also usher in a huge market. . But at the same time, it must be realized that the BIPV market is still in its infancy. The initial stage of any industry and market is constantly advancing through exploration. Only by in-depth understanding of customers, solving customer pain points, and satisfying customer needs can we be more advanced Sexual products lead the development of the industry. For some products that are swarming on BIPV, the risks faced by quality problems, technical problems and even enterprise reliability problems will eventually be passed on to end users, which will not only affect the development of the entire industry, but also  let terminal users suffer  loss.

Therefore, when the era of BIPV is coming, I believe that the market and users are also looking forward to an excellent BIPV product that truly has technical advantages, quality advantages, design advantages, and brand advantages. What is exciting is that we have seen some large-scale crystalline silicon photovoltaic companies with leading technology entering the BIPV industry, and there will be more excellent BIPV products to meet with us in the near future. This will not only set a new benchmark for the fiercely competitive BIPV market, but will further promote the healthy development of the BIPV industry with high-efficiency and high-quality products, and this will be what the market and users are happy to see.