BP Solar is a subsidiary company of BP. It is the solar power company and is a known international manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar cells known as the BP Solar Panels. The company has been involved in the solar power industry since 1973 with headquarters located in Frederick, Maryland. Currently, the company’s product facilities are based in China, India, Spain and the United States and with a workforce of over 2,000 people from all over the world.
History of Photovoltaics
The international solar power industry provides solar panels or cells which have the ability to convert the sun’s energy into electricity. The concept was initiated by concerns about energy security as well as global warming. Through years of researches, it has greatly improved and advanced the technology of photovoltaic industry thus reducing its prices and at the same time, increasing the market demand by about 25% every year.
The demand for solar cells has also changed. Starting out to provide power supply for remote areas and powered consumer products like toys, calculators and watches in 1980s up to early 1990’s, its uses then shifted to and focused on developing power plants and building-integrated photovoltaics for grid connected applications by the year 1995.
The Company
BP is one of the largest international energy companies that aim to help conserve the earth’s natural resources by focusing on the innovative and latest cleaner technology which includes the solar power. For over 30 years, BP has proven its reliability and experience in the industry and is currently has installations in over 160 countries.
The Product
It has its 2 new manufacturing plants of BP solar panels, one of which is located in Madrid, the company’s European headquarter, while the second one is at Tata BP Solar, its joint venture facility in Bangalore, India. During the Madrid expansion, BP Solar aims to expand the yearly capacity of its BP solar panels from 55 megawatts to around 3000 megawatts. On the other hand, the Bangalore expansion has added another 300 megawatts to the company’s total annual cell capacity.
The new BP solar panels use advanced screen-printing technology. The company had fully automated the wafer handling that enables the manufacturing lines to handle even the thinnest wafers available, ensuring its highest quality. This advancement is of great advantage since the silicon shortage experienced in the previous years.
How Do Solar Panels Work?
Though making BP solar panels require advanced technology, when linked in to a solar module, BP solar panels are quite easy to use.
The technology uses the sun’s energy to generate electric current at the junction of 2 materials, the PV technology or the photovoltaic is likely to be the simplest known method of generating power. This is because the photovoltaic cells do not require fuel and creates no emissions. Moreover, the silicon that is being used in solar modules is non-toxic.
In addition to that, the production of BP solar panels makes extensive use of recycled materials. As a matter of fact, it uses waste from other industries as its raw material. Also, these panels can regenerate the energy consumed on its manufacturing process in 1 to 4 years, depending on the location and application.
Our world is truly fast evolving and fast deteriorating. It is our duty to save the world we are living. Not all companies have this community concern. But with BP solar panels, the products offer a lot of benefits as it not only helps the issues of energy consumption and production, but it also addresses the need to conserve the Earth’s natural resources. It’s our home after all.