Buildings consume large amounts of energy, and their transformation from energy users to producers has attracted increasing interest in the quest to help optimize the energy share, increasing energy efficiency and environmental protection. The use of energy-efficient materials is among the proposed approaches to increase the building’s energy balance, thus increasing the performance of building facades. Semitransparent building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), being one of the technologies with the potential to increase a building’s energy efficiency, is considered as a feasible method for renewable power generation to help buildings meet their own load, thus serving dual purposes. Semitransparent BIPV integration into buildings not only displaces conventional building facade materials but also simultaneously generates energy while retaining traditional functional roles. The awareness in improving building energy efficiency has increased as well as the awareness in promoting the use of clean or renewable energy technologies. In this study, semitransparent BIPV technology is reviewed in terms of energy generation, challenges, and ways to address limitations which can be used as a reference for the BIPV stakeholders.

Integrating solar PV technology with semi-transparent windows permits multifunctional operation as electricity generation and allowing natural light to enter the building, hence overall energy efficiency improvement. The performance of the semi-transparent building integrated PV glazing on office building facade has been investigated in Tanzania’s tropical climate. Experimental measurements of the electrical and optical parameters for the system efficacy evaluation were done at various conditions which included cloudy, normal, and clear sky days. The weather parameters under consideration were solar irradiance, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. The experimental set-up consisted of building integrated silicon mono crystalline semi-transparent PV module rated at 50 W and accessories. The I-V and P-V curves were measured at different irradiances. Throughout the experiment, the observed module temperature was between 20°C and 51°C and the air temperature was 17–33°C while the humidity was recorded at the range of 23–63%. Module electrical efficiency was observed to vary from 4% to 9% while the visible light transmission was obtained between 11% and 19%. It was proved that at high temperature regardless of irradiance increase, there were observed output power and efficiency drops caused by high heat losses.