 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Solar energy |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founder | Philip Wolfe |
| Defunct | 21 December 2011 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Reyad Fezzani (CEO) |
| Parent | BP |
| Subsidiaries | Tata BP Solar |
| Website | www |
BP Solar was a manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar cells headquartered in Madrid, Spain, with production facilities in Frederick, MD, India and the People's Republic of China. [1] [2] It was a subsidiary of BP.
In 1981, BP acquired initially 50% of Lucas Energy Systems which became Lucas BP Solar Systems. [3] The company became wholly owned by BP in the mid-1980s. [4] When BP merged with Amoco in 1998 it acquired Amoco's 50% stake in Solarex. [5] In 1999 it acquired Enron's stake in Solarex and consolidated its PV divisions into a new subsidiary named BP Solarex. [6] In that year the company became the world's leading PV producer. [7] In 2001 the division renamed itself BP Solar. [8]
BP Solar and Indian firm Tata Power established Tata BP Solar, a joint venture company, in 1989. [9] The company began commercial operations in 1991 by establishing its first manufacturing unit with a production capacity of 3 MW in India. [10] [9] BP Solar exited the joint venture in 2012, and Tata BP Solar became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tata Group. [11]
In 2004, the R&D part of BP Solar was sold to the UK's National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec). In 2013, it became Solar Capture Technologies. [12] In 2010, it closed down the factory at Frederick, Maryland. [13] BP Solar closed on 21 December 2011 when BP announced its departure from the solar energy business. [14] [15]
PV power plants using BP solar modules include:
BP Solar had 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. [17] In the mid-1980s BP installed Solar power for Microwave repeater stations across Sierra Leone in support of a telecommunications network restoration.[ citation needed ]
BP Solar (with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation — CSIRO) was 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 to enable the production of these advanced batteries at an internationally competitive price, facilitating a major export market. [18]
Iberdrola, S.A. is a Spanish multinational electric utility company based in Bilbao, Spain. It has around 40,000 employees and serves around 30 million customers.
Many countries and territories have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. Solar power plants use one of two technologies:
Hybrid power are combinations between different technologies to produce power.
Solar power is a major contributor to electricity supply in Australia. As of December 2023, Australia's over 3.69 million solar PV installations had a combined capacity of 34.2 GW photovoltaic (PV) solar power. In 2019, 59 solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 2,881 MW were either under construction, constructed or due to start construction having reached financial closure. Solar accounted for 12.4% of Australia's total electrical energy production in 2021.
Spain is one of the first countries to deploy large-scale solar photovoltaics, and is the world leader in concentrated solar power (CSP) production.
Renewable energy in Australia is mainly based on biomass, solar, wind, and hydro generation. Over a third of electricity is generated from renewables, and is increasing, with a target to phase out coal power before 2040. Wind energy and rooftop solar have particularly grown since 2010. The growth has been stimulated by government energy policy in order to limit the rate of climate change in Australia that has been brought about by the use of fossil fuels. Pros and cons of various types of renewable energy are being investigated, and more recently there have been trials of green hydrogen and wave power.
India's solar power installed capacity was 87.21 GW AC as of 31 July 2024. India is the third largest producer of solar power globally.
For solar power, South Asia has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation and a high density of potential customers.
Historically, the main applications of solar energy technologies in Canada have been non-electric active solar system applications for space heating, water heating and drying crops and lumber. In 2001, there were more than 12,000 residential solar water heating systems and 300 commercial/ industrial solar hot water systems in use. These systems presently comprise a small fraction of Canada's energy use, but some government studies suggest they could make up as much as five percent of the country's energy needs by the year 2025.
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics is a photovoltaic (PV) technology based on the use of cadmium telluride in a thin semiconductor layer designed to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. Cadmium telluride PV is the only thin film technology with lower costs than conventional solar cells made of crystalline silicon in multi-kilowatt systems.
Between 1992 and 2023, the worldwide usage of photovoltaics (PV) increased exponentially. During this period, it evolved from a niche market of small-scale applications to a mainstream electricity source. From 2016-2022 it has seen an annual capacity and production growth rate of around 26%- doubling approximately every three years.
EDF Renewables is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French utility EDF Group, specializing in renewable energy production. As an integrated operator, the Group develops and finances the construction of renewable energy facilities, and manages operations and maintenance for its own account and for third parties.
Tata Power Solar Systems Limited, formerly Tata BP Solar, is an Indian company that specialises in solar energy services. The company manufactures solar modules, solar cells, and other solar products, and provides EPC services for solar power projects.
Solar power in South Africa includes photovoltaics (PV) as well as concentrated solar power (CSP). As of July 2024, South Africa had 2,287 MW of installed utility-scale PV solar power capacity in its grid, in addition to 5,791 MW of rooftop solar and 500 MW of CSP. Installed capacity is expected to reach 8,400 MW by 2030.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to solar energy:
Solar power in Chile is an increasingly important source of energy. Total installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Chile reached 8.36 GW in 2023. Solar energy provided 19.9% of national electricity generation in Chile in 2023, compared to less than 0.1% in 2013.
Lightsource BP, rebranded from Lightsource Renewable Energy in 2018, is the largest solar developer in Europe, and third largest in the world outside of China. Lightsource BP is a British company with headquarters in London, and offices in Madrid, Milan, Athens, San Francisco, Austin, Philadelphia, Mumbai, New Delhi, Cairo, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Bath, Belfast and Dublin. The company is a subsidiary of BP.
The CIAL Solar Power Project is a 50 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station built at Cochin International Airport, India, by the company Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL). Cochin International Airport became the first fully solar powered airport in the world with the commissioning the plant.
KPI Green Energy Limited is a solar power company based in Surat, Gujarat. Established in 2008, it is part of the KP Group. The company generates and supplies electricity from solar power projects under the brand name Solarism.
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