Investigation of building integrated photovoltaics potential in achieving the zero energy building target

Since the photovoltaic (PV) scientific community started exploring innovative ways of incorporating solar electricity into buildings, a whole new vernacular of solar electric architecture emerged. Currently, there is a growing consensus that building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) systems will be the backbone of the zero energy building (ZEB) European target by 2020, through their widespread commercialization. BIPV systems often produce however less energy than conventional PV systems due to architectural constraints in the design of BIPV arrays. This paper presents a conceptual study regarding the energy yield and feasibility of BIPVs in several locations in Europe. Specific conclusions on the energy yield and economic feasibility of BIPVs with regard to the implemented PV module technology, the climatic zone, the orientation of the building and the mounting disposition are drawn. The findings of this work that were also validated using hourly time step computational analysis, reveal the necessary conditions under which BIPVs could have a major contribution to fulfilling the European 2020 targets by enabling the achievement of the ZEB goal.