The provision of energy is essential for sustainable economic growth in any country. We focus on energy generation, transmission and distribution, not only conventional sources of generation but alternative energy where we specialise in solar, wind and hydro energy. Apart from providing this service to government institutions such as Eskom and municipal power utilities, we also provide services to the private sector in internal power generation and establish facilities to supplement the national grid.
Renewable is hardly a new concept, but this industry sector has continued to grow and subsequently influences a wider range of industry than is merited at first glance. This market consists of two main segments: New developments (eg. a new parking structure with solar PV-panel roof sheeting) and new installations and retrofits to existing developments aimed at providing a new facility or an enlarged capacity (eg. a new solar PV array to an existing building). In the latter category, the market has shown growth in unexpected places like a strong structural engineering involvement when new solar PV installations are planned for an existing building. BVi offers the support of multi-disciplinary teams that can consult on all aspects of renewable energy systems, especially in the case of new installations and retrofits where interaction is involved between different disciplines such as structural engineering to determine and approve safe loadings; electrical engineering to design new systems and evaluate the capacity of installed systems to accept a new feed-in; mechanical engineering to design and consult on applicable services that can be augmented by renewable energy systems; and project management to coordinate all efforts and ensure that client requirements are met satisfactorily.
In terms of the above, BVi has been actively involved in expanding the influence of renewable energy systems through:
- New proposals for rooftop PV systems (grid-tied).
- Retro-fitting solar thermal systems to existing hot water systems for hostels and residences.
- Evaluation of residential and commercial roof structures to accept extra loading from solar water heaters and solar PV grid-tie systems.
