Our Engineering Heritage
The 'ib' in ibV Energy stands for Ingenieurbüro, the German word for “Engineering Office.”
Our Group started as a fabrications engineering firm consulting to some of the earliest manufacturers of solar photovoltaic panels. Within a decade, the Group expanded globally into downstream solar development, entering the United States with the founding of ibV Energy Partners in 2017.
While we are no longer an engineering firm, this heritage forms the backbone of our development process. We place a strong and early emphasis on technical design and optimization to ensure that we deliver quality at every turn.
Fabrication Engineering
The Group was initially founded as an engineering firm by Ms. Dagmar Vogt.
The shift to fabrications engineering materialized with the rise of solar panel manufacturing in Germany in the early 1990s, led by companies such as Solarworld, Q-Cells, Solon and Conergy.
For well over a decade, Germany led the world in photovoltaic production, creating the standards and quality controls that we continue to see today.
And, up until 2000, Dagmar and her firm quickly grew to become one of the leading firms in this industry, consulting on the construction and operations of over 20 PV factories worldwide.
European Photovoltaics Expansion
Capitalizing on the firm’s expertise and worldwide reputation, ib vogt GmbH was founded in 2002 as a downstream solar PV developer.
Between the early 2000s until 2010, ib vogt focused on the German and UK solar markets, eventually completing over 500 MW of solar PV projects in the UK alone. These were challenging times for German solar PV manufacturers as most production shifted to Asia and some to the United States.
Nevertheless, ib vogt raced ahead to expand across Europe, adding staff to its EPC division as well as its business development and finance teams.
Today, the Group’s EPC division is a leader of its own, overseeing the construction of large projects in the most challenging of environments as well as influencing the industry on enhanced safety standards.
Global Photovoltaics Expansion
Today, the ib vogt Group is one of the largest pure solar developers in the world.
Following its success in Europe, the Group founded additional development companies in Singapore, India, Philippines, Egypt, India and the United States, to name just a few.
Some notable achievements during this decade include:
Constructing UK’s largest solar power plant to date, building the first solar project in the Philippines, Slovenia and the Netherlands, constructing the largest solar power plant in Egypt at 230 MWp and entering the US market, first in New England and quickly expanding across ISOs with the founding of ibV Energy Partners in 2017.
Focus on the United States
The founding of ibV Energy Partners in 2017 under the ib vogt Group signaled a significant shift of focus and resources to the United States.
Now, the US is the Group’s largest market with over 8 GWp of solar + storage projects in the queue and nearly 1 GWp of build anticipated in the next 2 years alone.
ibV Energy likewise achieved some notable firsts including:
The first clean energy PPA signed in Kentucky with LG&E and KU, Toyota Motors and DowCorning, one of the first PPAs signed with Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) and becoming one of the largest solar PV developers in the southeast United States.
UTILIZING AGRIVOLTAICS
The Community is Our First Priority
People, Planet, Profits.
We put the triple bottom line of sustainability into action by supporting communities through long-term tax benefits, prevailing-wage jobs and aesthetically designed solar power plants.
We are strong believers in Agrivoltaic designed plants that make use of pollinators and livestock that feed off the very ground that our plants sit on. Using the land for both solar and agriculture is not only a possibility, for us, it's a priority.
”Agrivoltaics is a key feature of ibV Energy’s development strategy and designs. We firmly believe that community support means more than jobs and tax revenue, it means protecting the natural aesthetics of the environment, preserving prime farmland and leaving the community a project to be proud of.
Robin Saiz, EVPChief Development Officer
”As a former commercial banker, I was quite pleased at ibV Energy’s ability to speak to us in a manner that was helpful, educational and yet humble without us ever feeling pressured or inferior. This team is truly genuine and twenty years down the road, my guess is that I will have the same convictions.
Jim Kusilek, LandownerFour Mile Creek Dairy, WI
Being Good People
Key to our growth are our people and culture. Apart from being passionate about our industry, our power customers and community stakeholders consistently note our enduring commitment to our projects, as much as they regard the ease to working with the individual members of our team.
Our Strong Lineage Dates Back to 1991.
We draw upon the extensive knowledge and financial strength of our parent company ib vogt GmbH, which is majority-owned by DIF Capital Partners. ib vogt is the world’s oldest solar IPP firm, having developed, constructed and operated over 100 projects around the world.
