BP Solar
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BP has been involved in solar power since 1973 and its subsidiary, BP Solar, is now one of the world's largest solar power companies with production facilities in the United States, Spain, India and Australia, employing a workforce of over 2,000 people worldwide.[1] BP solar is a major worldwide manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar cells for electricity.[2] Headquarters for BP Solar are located in Frederick, MD.[3]
Other major solar photovoltaic companies include Kyocera, Mitsubishi Electric, Sanyo, Schott Solar, Sharp Solar, SolarWorld, SunPower, and Suntech.[4][5]
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[edit] The photovoltaic industry
The international photovoltaic industry provides solar cells which convert light into electricity. With concerns about global warming increasing and technological advances driving prices down, the market is growing by about 25 per cent each year. The composition of demand is also changing. In the 1980s and early 1990s, most photovoltaic modules provided remote area power supply or powered consumer products such as watches, calculators and toys, but from around 1995, industry efforts have focused increasingly on developing building integrated photovoltaics and power plants for grid connected applications.[6]
[edit] Large PV power plants
There are several large PV power plants of megawatt capacity which use BP solar modules. These include:
- Bürstadt, Germany -- 5 MW from 30,000 modules
- Springerville, AZ, USA -- 4.59 MW from 34,980 modules
- Geiseltalsee, Germany -- 4 MW from 25,000 modules
[edit] Projects in developing countries
BP Solar has many projects and co-operative activities in developing countries, including supplying power to 36,000 homes in rural Indonesia, installing 1000 solar devices to provide power to 400 remote villages in the Philippines, and setting up a rural electrification scheme in Malaysia to provide power to 30,000 remote homes in Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
[edit] New battery technology
BP Solar (with the CSIRO) is also involved in the commercialization of a long life deep cycle lead acid battery, which is well suited to the storage of electricity for renewable remote area power systems (RAPS). This GreenGel battery, and CSIRO's new battery charging procedures, will reduce capacity loss and premature failure sometimes encountered with existing battery technology. A significant component of the project will be the establishment of an innovative manufacturing process which will enable the production of these advanced batteries at an internationally competitive price, facilitating a major export market.[7]
[edit] New solar cell manufacturing plants
BP Solar has begun constructing two new solar photovoltaic (PV) solar cell manufacturing plants, one at its European headquarters in Madrid, and the second at its joint venture facility, Tata BP Solar, in Bangalore, India.[8] For stage one of the Madrid expansion, BP Solar is aiming to expand its annual cell capacity from 55 megawatts (MW) to around 300 MW. Construction of this facility is underway and expected to be completed in 2007. The Bangalore expansion should add another 300 MW to the company's total capacity.[8]
The new cell lines use innovative screen-printing technology. By fully automating wafer handling, the manufacturing lines will be able to handle the very thinnest of wafers available and ensure the highest quality.[8] This is of particular importance since there has been a silicon shortage in recent years.
BP Solar also maintains a manufacturing facility in the United States in Frederick, MD. The Frederick facility is currently undergoing a major expansion to increase production for an expected increase in demand in the coming years. The plant opened as an independent solar power company, Solarex, in the 1970's. Solarex was taken over by Amoco/Enron in 1983 and later became a part of BP. This facility produces polycrystaline solar cells with a blue chromium color, which are slightly less efficient than monocrystalline solar cells, but is offset by a significant reduction in production and sales costs.
The BP Solar building has an integrated 200kW (peak) solar grid. It was was built to be a 'solar breeder,' a facility that would produce solar cells using solar power. However, as the building's array aged, the grid was disconnected. Since the 1990's the main array does not produce any usable electricity, however electric is generated by several new arrays located on a new casting build as well as several other recent additions. In the future the expansion of the Frederick facility will include a green roof, and other energy saving measures.
[edit] See also
- Green technology
- List of photovoltaics companies
- Photovoltaic array
- Photovoltaics
- Photovoltaic power stations
- Renewable energy
- Solar power
- Solar shingle
- Solar tracker
- Timeline of solar energy
