According to information released by the National Energy Administration, my country's newly installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity reached 5.33 GW in the first quarter, of which centralized PV accounted for 2.52 GW and distributed PV for 2.81 GW. The fact that distributed PV surpassed centralized PV is rare in my country's PV development, and it also signifies that PV has entered the era of grid parity and is beginning to enter ordinary households.
Although centralized photovoltaic and distributed photovoltaic systems differ mainly in terms of installation scale and method, there are also significant differences in component design and positioning.
Centralized photovoltaic systems are mostly located in areas with abundant sunshine, such as the Northwest. They consist of independent, large-scale centralized inverters, and the module structure generally consists of five layers: photovoltaic glass, encapsulating film, solar cells, encapsulating film again, and backsheet. After years of application, mature products and solutions have been developed.
However, this approach is not suitable for distributed photovoltaic systems, as indoor lighting needs to be taken into account, especially for BIPV, where opaque solar cell backsheets are not appropriate.
This necessitates the use of bifacial double-glass modules, which have been highly regarded in the industry in recent years and are considered more efficient. They are often seen as a powerful means of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and are expected to see explosive growth in the short term. However, in centralized photovoltaic systems, the development of bifacial double-glass modules has not met expectations.
Distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems heavily rely on bifacial double-glass modules, which replace the solar cell backsheets with photovoltaic glass. This not only improves weather resistance but also solves the problem of indoor lighting. Naturally, this will increase the demand for photovoltaic glass, which is beneficial for PV glass companies. This is one of the reasons why many companies have recently entered the PV glass market.
