MARKET NEWS

BIPV Is Widely Used and the Market Prospect Is Bright

At present, global resources are in desperate situation. Solar energy, as a renewable and green treasure energy, has become a new driving force for the development of countries around the world.

In recent years, the global photovoltaic market has grown strongly. Data show that the newly installed capacity in 2020 reached 130GW, a year-on-year increase of 7%.

BIPV Attracts Attention

Unlike traditional BAPV, BIPV emphasizes integration and integration. BAPV places the power station on the roofs, walls and other areas of the completed building, which does not affect the original structure of the building and improves the efficiency of power generation. It is a later combination; BIPV is also a combination of photovoltaic modules and buildings. The difference is the combination of photovoltaic modules and buildings was completed in the early stage. The modules have multiple functions such as power generation, decoration, and waterproofing. Power generation is only one of the indicators. Generally speaking, traditional BAPV installation is carried out in the existing roofs, walls and other areas of the house, with strong subjective selectivity, but the application scenario is relatively single; BIPV has a wider range of application scenarios and higher energy supply efficiency, which is in line with the basic national borders of China with a large population density.

Countries Actively Deploy BIPV Track

At present, the awareness of environmental protection on a global scale has generally increased, environmental protection policies have become increasingly stringent, and environmental protection measures have been stepped up. The development of photovoltaic power generation technology promotes the widespread use of the photovoltaic industry. In consideration of environmental protection and sustainable energy development strategies, various countries have respectively formulated policies to encourage solar photovoltaic power generation technology.

By 2030, the net energy consumption of buildings in the United States will reach zero, and the state of California forces all new residential buildings under three floors to install photovoltaic systems from 2020. The EU recommends member states to cover all new buildings with solar panels. In China, by 2020, the proportion of urban green building area will exceed 50%. BIPV, as an important technical application to achieve the goal of zero-energy building, has entered a period of rapid development with the strong support of government policies in various countries, and has unlimited future development potential.

The maturity of overseas BIPV development is relatively high. China's photovoltaic industry has entered parity, and the development of BIPV is at an inflection point. Countries such as Europe, America, Japan and other countries and places have introduced BIPV-related support policies in the early 21st century. California, the United States, has required BIPV for newly built houses as standard equipment since 2021, and similar mandatory policies have also been implemented in Japan. In October 2019, Tesla launched the third generation of the new BIPV product SolarRoof, which has both aesthetics and photovoltaic power generation characteristics. Different numbers of solar tiles can be equipped according to the roof area and different installed capacity requirements.

In China, Longi has entered the BIPV market with its rich experience in the BAPV field. In June 2019, Longi invested in the construction of the first BIPV factory, and released the first assembled BIPV product "Longding" in July last year. Similar to traditional distributed photovoltaic power stations, Longding meets the requirements of industrial and commercial roof systems. Therefore, the products are mainly for large companies' industrial parks, logistics and other customers, mainly used in the roof renovation of new and old factories.

The Domestic BIPV Market Has Broad Prospects

In the past, the main reason for the slow growth of China's BIPV industry was the high cost of building photovoltaics, and China's electricity prices were much lower than those in developed countries. Nowadays, China's conventional photovoltaic power generation has entered the era of parity, which provides important prerequisites for the large-scale promotion of BIPV. At present, the pressure of green environmental protection is becoming increasingly tight. BIPV, as a typical environmentally friendly building material, will inevitably rise with the trend.

Relevant statistics show that the area of houses built in China each year is about 2 billion square meters, of which high-energy-consumption buildings account for more than 97%. Among the existing buildings of more than 40 billion square feet in China, more than 90% are energy-intensive buildings, and building energy conservation is imperative. The data shows that the domestic photovoltaic installation area in 2020 was 3.21 billion square meters, of which the residential wall area provides the most with 1.06 billion square meters. The prospect of photovoltaic building integration is very broad.

Benefit From BIPV, The Photovoltaic Glass Market Ushered In Growth

Due to the high integration of BIPV, many factors need to be considered, including aesthetics and energy absorption. For aesthetic considerations, various BIPV products have higher requirements for the quantity and quality of glass than other photovoltaic products; from the perspective of energy conversion, tiled glass bricks are an important part of them. With the rapid development of BIPV, companies with core photovoltaic glass technology will become promising high-quality companies.

Thin Film Batteries Will Also Benefit

In the existing photovoltaic cell structure, there are mainly crystalline silicon cells and thin cells. Crystalline silicon cells are the most cost-effective and the mainstream choice in the photovoltaic industry, occupying more than 90% of the photovoltaic market. The surface of the silicon crystal has its own grid lines, the color is not uniform, and the silicon material is not very transparent, which is difficult to become a BIPV component; from the perspective of adaptability, the toughness of silicon crystals is poor and it is difficult to meet the requirements of modern building arcs; in addition, the current standardization of silicon sealing crystals is very high, and the size is very large. It is difficult to make subjective adjustments, resulting in crystalline silicon modules that cannot meet the requirements of glass with high transmittance requirements and curtain walls with high bending requirements, that is, it is difficult to meet the diversity requirements of BIPV. The overall thin film technology is more suitable for BIPV.

BIPV integrates functions such as power generation, decoration, and waterproofing, and has a wide range of applications. With the increasing diversity of photovoltaic application scenarios, BIPV is expected to accelerate its penetration.