Flagship project in Africa: Using solar power to counteract fluctuating power grids

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The association Connecting Continents e.V., based in Kirchroth/Germany, has been running a secondary school on Pemba, a small island belonging to Zanzibar/Tanzania in East Africa, for 15 years. A total of 300 pupils, half of them girls and a quarter orphans, attend the school, which is one of the best in the region. The school has been under the direction of headmistress Mrs. Bi Mwaache for many years. Together with her team, she helps students to obtain a state-certified degree every year. In order to concentrate even better on her work with the students, Mrs. Mwaache and her family have recently moved into a freshly finished house only 1 km away from the school. But the electricity supply in the region is very unreliable. Therefore, a photovoltaic system with a battery storage system has recently been installed, which supplies the family with CO2-neural solar power.

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Sabine, Victoria who will be next? The next storm is as certain as the sunrise

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In recent years a series of storms have swept across Europe. The list comprises some prominent storms in Germany like hurricane Niklas (2015), storm Xavier (2017), hurricane Friederike (2018), hurricane Sabine, and storm Victoria (both in 2020). During the last hurricane named Sabine, winds reached speeds of up to 177 km/h. Even in the lowlands, speeds of around 150 km/h could still be measured. This is a good enough reason for us to take a closer look at the calculation of PV systems. Because one thing is for certain – there will be more hurricanes on the way!

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Supplier portrait: Sungrow – Clean Power For All!

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Every once in a while we are presenting our suppliers and partners on our blog. Today: one of the world’s leading specialists in the field of inverters and storage solutions – Sungrow. Since 23 years, the green tech company stands up for a clean future and recently hit the 100 GW milestone – a true success within the industry as well as for Sungrow. In 2012, we included the high quality products from the Chinese manufacturer and now already look back on seven successful years together. (more…)

IBC SOLAR at Genera Solar 2020

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Renewable energies in Spain, especially with regards to the solar market are booming. This became clear during the visit to Genera Solar 2020, Spain’s largest energy and environmental fair in Madrid. IBC SOLAR also participated and presented the wide range of its services and product portfolio, from modules and mounting systems to inverters. However, this year’s highlight was the launch of the Spanish PV Manager version. (more…)

Static friction coefficient with AeroFix and AeroFlat

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Static friction and spring scale

In the flat roof sector, aerodynamic mounting systems have evolved, especially for foil, bitumen, green and gravel roofs. The reason for this success is the simple assembly compared to other systems, as normally no roof penetrations have to be made and better load values are achieved through the aerodynamics. Instead, ballast is only applied depending on the project. In this context, the so-called static friction coefficient between the bracket and the roof cladding plays an important role in all aerodynamic systems on the market, for example in our IBC AeroFix and IBC AeroFlat systems, because it strongly influences the ballast. How this is determined exactly and what needs to be taken into account is explained in more detail below. (more…)