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Integration of Solar PV in Buildings

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 5999

Special Issue Editor

Energy Department, CIEMAT, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: photovoltaic (PV) energy; PV in buildings; BIPV; energy efficiency

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The integration of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology in buildings, known as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), is demonstrating a huge potential in the decarbonization of buildings, new and retrofit, by improving the energy-savings of their envelopes and by increasing the local generation of renewable energy. PV modules integrated into the building skin, substituting conventional construction materials, and enabling efficient and sustainable energy generation, are paving the way to nearly-zero-energy buildings.

Nonetheless, much remains to be done from architectonic, engineering, scientific, environmental, and economic perspectives. This Special Issue gives authors the opportunity to collaborate in disseminating their contributions to the progress of BIPV. While best practices and lessons learned from relevant case studies will help to develop better examples and design methods, innovative and advanced materials or digitalization processes will increase the competitiveness of BIPV.

The areas of interest of this Special Issue include approaches such as innovative technical solutions that successfully combine architectonic designs with electric functions, BIPV case studies and lessons learned, BIPV performance monitoring and prediction modeling, energy and economic assessment of BIPV, cost reduction and market strategies, life cycle analysis, socio-environmental studies, modeling and digitalization, pre-normative proposals for guaranteeing the functionality and reliability of BIPV products and systems, optimized self-consumption designs, energy management and storage, and BIPV potential studies.

As a reflection of the multidisciplinarity of BIPV, this Special Issue will collect contributions from all key areas related to this field, becoming a holistic and up-to-date reference of the state-of-the-art of BIPV.  

Dr. Nuria Martín Chivelet
Guest editor

References:

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Keywords

  • Keywords: building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)
  • sustainable architecture
  • renewable energy
  • energy efficiency in buildings
  • energy saving
  • advanced building materials
  • photovoltaic energy (PV)
  • building information modeling
  • PV self-consumption
  • energy management
  • PV potential in buildings

Published Papers (2 papers)

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15 pages, 36422 KiB  
Article
Assessment of PV Module Temperature Models for Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)
by Nuria Martín-Chivelet, Jesús Polo, Carlos Sanz-Saiz, Lucy Tamara Núñez Benítez, Miguel Alonso-Abella and José Cuenca
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1500; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031500 - 27 Jan 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2963
Abstract
This paper assesses two steady-state photovoltaic (PV) module temperature models when applied to building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) rainscreens and curtain walls. The models are the Ross and the Faiman models, both extensively used for PV modules mounted on open-rack support structures in PV [...] Read more.
This paper assesses two steady-state photovoltaic (PV) module temperature models when applied to building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) rainscreens and curtain walls. The models are the Ross and the Faiman models, both extensively used for PV modules mounted on open-rack support structures in PV plants. The experimental setups arrange the BIPV modules vertically and with different backside boundary conditions to cover the mounting configurations under study. Data monitoring over more than a year was the experimental basis to assess each model by comparing simulated and measured temperatures with the help of four different metrics: mean absolute error, root mean square error, mean bias error, and coefficient of determination. The performance ratio of each system without the temperature effect was calculated by comparing the experimental energy output with the energy output determined with the measured temperatures. This parameter allowed the estimation of the PV energy with the predicted temperatures to assess the suitability of each temperature model for energy-prediction purposes. The assessment showed that the Ross model is the most suitable for predicting the annual PV energy in rainscreen and curtain-wall applications. Highlighted is the importance of fitting the model coefficients with a representative set of in situ monitored data. The data set should preferably include the inner (backside) temperature, i.e., the air chamber temperature in ventilated façades or the indoor temperature in curtain walls and windows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Solar PV in Buildings)
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14 pages, 16518 KiB  
Article
Smart Glass Coatings for Innovative BIPV Solutions
by Roman Trattnig, Gianluca Cattaneo, Yuliya Voronko, Gabriele C. Eder, Dieter Moor, Florian Jamschek and Thomas Buchsteiner
Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12775; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132212775 - 18 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2113
Abstract
The glossy appearance of the cover glass of a photovoltaic module is mainly responsible for giving the module a mirroring effect, which is often disturbing in the case of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) façade applications. In this work, an innovative approach is presented [...] Read more.
The glossy appearance of the cover glass of a photovoltaic module is mainly responsible for giving the module a mirroring effect, which is often disturbing in the case of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) façade applications. In this work, an innovative approach is presented to reduce the glare of BIPV modules by applying surface coatings to the front glass of the module. Three different glass coating technologies, applied on the outer surface of the photovoltaic module, were investigated: inkjet printing, screen printing, and sol-gel spray coating. The coatings, applied by these technologies in three different colours (grey, anthracite, and terracotta), were characterized with respect to their adhesion, light transmission, and reflection. Their chemical and physical stability after stress impact (condensed water resistance and chemical resistance against acids and salt-fog) was also investigated. The durability of these coatings was further evaluated after performing environmental simulations with artificial sunlight (xenon weathering) on coated glass. Additionally, accelerated aging tests (damp-heat testing, temperature cycling) were performed on the test modules to assess their performance stability. For those coatings, where no stress-induced changes in colour or the optical appearance of the module surface were detected, the potential for the architectural integration of the modules into building facades is high. A minimum glare of less than 0.1% of the specular reflection could be achieved. On the basis of the results of the optical characterization and the durability tests, grey screen-printed BIPV solar modules were installed in a demonstrator test façade. The high electrical performance, resulting in only a 10–11% performance decrease compared to the noncoated reference modules, perfectly showed the suitability of screen-printing in future applications for coloured and glare-reduced BIPV installations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Solar PV in Buildings)
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