Photovoltaic Power Plant Explained: Centralized, Distributed, BIPV, and BAPV

Driven by the "dual carbon" goals, photovoltaics, as an important part of green energy, are increasingly entering our lives. From factory rooftops to deserts and Gobi, from residential buildings to water power plants, different types of photovoltaic power plants are showing their talents.

However, many people still have questions: What types of photovoltaic power plants are there? What are their differences? Today, we will use the most popular language to clarify these issues.

I. What is a centralized photovoltaic power plant?

Let's start with the "giant of photovoltaic power generation".

A centralized photovoltaic power plant, as the name suggests, is a large-scale power plant built in areas with abundant solar resources (such as deserts, Gobi, and tidal flats). These power plants usually have large installed capacities (tens of megawatts or even hundreds of megawatts), and the electricity generated is sent to cities or industrial parks hundreds of kilometers away through high-voltage power grids.

📌   Popular explanation Imagine building a "solar power plant" in the Gobi Desert, generating electricity on a large scale every day and selling it to the State Grid, which then distributes it to users everywhere.

✅ Advantages:

• Utilizing large areas of wasteland, Does not compete with arable land and buildings for resources ；
• Concentrated power generation, Easy to manage and dispatch ；
• Costs decrease with increasing scale, Has a certain economic scale effect 。

❗ Disadvantages:

• Electricity needs long-distance transmission, resulting in Transmission losses ；
• Large investment, long construction period, The payback period is also longer ；
• Has a greater impact on the power grid, requiring Grid scheduling and stabilization technology (such as reactive power compensation, LVRT, etc.).

🎯 Application Cases:

The Dunhuang 100,000 kW photovoltaic power plant in Northwest China Located in the heart of the desert, it can supply electricity to hundreds of thousands of people every year and is a typical centralized project. II. What is a distributed photovoltaic power plant?

In contrast, a distributed photovoltaic power plant is like a "small power plant at your doorstep".

They are usually built on the rooftops of users (such as factories, office buildings, and residences), generating electricity on-site and using it on-site, and the surplus electricity is fed into the public power grid through a low-voltage power grid.

Your rooftop is equipped with photovoltaic panels, generating electricity for your own use during the day, and the rest can be sold for money.

📌   Popular explanation Close to the user,

✅ Advantages:

• Reduces transmission losses Short installation cycle, ；
• Low investment threshold Combined with buildings, ；
• Flexible and efficient, energy saving and emission reduction Limited power grid access capacity, 。

❗ Disadvantages:

• Power fluctuations easily affect voltage stability Different situations for each household, ；
• Inconsistent operation and maintenance and income The impact of grid connection and subsidy policies on the return period is significant. ；
• A clothing factory in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, built a 1MW distributed photovoltaic power plant on its rooftop, saving more than 400,000 yuan in electricity bills annually, with a payback period of 2.5 years, and also enjoying the grid repurchase policy.

🎯 Application Cases:

III. BIPV and BAPV: The "soul fusion" of buildings and photovoltaics

🧱

BIPV: Building Integrated Photovoltaics BIPV (Building Integrated PV) is a solution that directly uses photovoltaic components as building materials, such as photovoltaic curtain walls, photovoltaic skylights, and photovoltaic roof tiles.

Once the house is built, it comes with a "power generation function", which is both beautiful and energy-efficient.

📌   Popular explanation Synchronized with building design,

✅ Advantages:

• High aesthetics, does not occupy extra space Extends the service life of building roofs, ；
• Multiple benefits Is an important direction for the transformation of urban "near-zero carbon buildings". ；
• Higher initial cost,

❗ Disadvantages:

• Higher design and construction requirements Highly dependent on building structure and orientation. ；
• The new headquarters of a technology company in Shenzhen uses a BIPV curtain wall design, generating 300,000 kWh of electricity annually and saving nearly 20% in energy consumption costs.

🎯 Application Cases:

🧩

BAPV: Building Attached Photovoltaics BAPV (Building Attached PV) refers to attaching photovoltaic components to the roof or walls after the building is completed, such as the common residential rooftop photovoltaics.

The original building is covered with a "solar energy coat", and electricity can be generated with a simple effort.

📌   Popular explanation Flexible transformation

✅ Advantages:

• Especially suitable for existing buildings; Lower investment,
• Simple construction, quick results Cannot perfectly match the building's appearance, has certain limitations; 。

❗ Disadvantages:

• 不能完美匹配建筑外观，有一定局限；
• It is necessary to check whether the roof structure is strong enough.

IV. Centralized vs. Distributed: Which one suits you?

V. Conclusion: In the photovoltaic era, the most important thing is to "choose right"

Centralized photovoltaics are like "power plants", while distributed photovoltaics are more like "electricity managers".

BIPV and BAPV represent the future collaboration between photovoltaics and urban construction.

For enterprises, choosing the right scenario, calculating the investment, and matching the policies are the correct way to make money from photovoltaics;

For practitioners, understanding these classifications and technological trends is the first lesson in entering the photovoltaic industry.

If you have read this far, congratulations, you already know more than 80% of those who have entered the industry.