China’s BYD has bold growth plans for solar power and electric mobility in Brazil, where it expects to invest 10bn reais (US$1.92bn) over the next three years.
The company recently announced that it will support the construction of the first BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaic system) laboratory in the country, in partnership with the federal university of Santa Catarina state (UFSC).
In the BIPV model, photovoltaic modules act as roof tiles and as shading elements on facades, in addition to generating energy.
Meanwhile, BYD foresees increased sales of solar panels for centralized and distributed generation projects, including those associated with battery systems, as well as electric vehicles.
BNamericas spoke with BYD Energy’s sales director, Marcelo Taborda (pictured, left), and engineer and project leader with UFSC, Gustavo Carvalho (right), about how business is going in Brazil.
BNamericas: What led BYD to make the investment in UFSC?
Taborda: We have a longstanding partnership with UFSC, at least since 2018, when we brought the double glass [photovoltaic] module technology to the university. This is a module with a 50-year lifespan, very different from what the market was offering at the time, which had lifespans of 25-30 years.
But why did we take this partnership there? Well, BYD is a company essentially focused on technology, our DNA is R&D. We have more than 40,000 engineers and researchers around the world, of which over 80% have doctorates and post-doctorates. So, it makes perfect sense to take our technologies to large technological centers and universities, uniting the manufacturer with the institution that disseminates this knowledge.
BNamericas: So both sides win, since undergraduate and graduate students can become interested in research linked to the areas in which BYD operates?
Taborda: Absolutely. This means having university students with a bachelor’s degree in physics, chemistry or engineering doing doctoral or master’s degrees in new technologies that are only feasible thanks to manufacturers like BYD that are present in Brazil. This fosters development in the market greatly.
BNamericas: What’s different about the new technology developed in partnership with UFSC?
Taborda: We had a module with an attractive design that we realized could be used for facade design. So we came up with the BIPV concept, which we developed with UFSC, whose objective is to go beyond a module on the roof. Today almost all residential projects involve a conventional, single-frame, rooftop module with up to 670 watts of power. This new module made with UFSC goes beyond that.
It means having a facade or a parking lot, for example, in harmony with the solar panel.
Carvalho: The UFSC laboratory is focused on green hydrogen, whose production depends on a renewable energy source. That’s why they chose solar energy for this function. And, instead of doing centralized generation, they tried to apply this …….