No abstract

No abstract

Starting from the end of 2020, all new buildings will have to be Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (Nearly ZEBs-ED 2010/31/EU recast). This new 'energy paradigm' might be a revolution for architecture and for Photovoltaics (PV) too, but there are both cultural and technical obstacles to overcome. There is a need to re-think the way buildings are designed (integrating renewables for being ZE). There is a need to re-think the way PV is designed in buildings. PV will be gaining an increasing relevance in the ZEBs design, thanks to its features and potentialities (suitability for any kind of energy demand of the building, easiness of building integration, cost). In a ZEB scenario, PV is very suitable for generating energy, 'on site' and 'at site'; this enlarges the perspective of use of PV from the architectural scale to a wider scale, including the space close to the building or even to the urban and landscape scale. In such a new context, the existing research on the relationships between PV and architecture, focusing mainly on the way the PV components are used in relation to the envelope (Building-integrated PV/Building-added (Attached) PV), is no longer sufficient. The authors envision possible formal results, opportunities and challenges, for the use of PV in ZEBs, as well as new research issues for the future relationships between PV and ZEBs from the architecture and landscape design point of view.

No abstract

Building integrated photovoltaics is one of the key technologies when it comes to electricity generation in buildings, districts or urban areas. However, the potential of building façades for the BIPV system, especially in urban areas, is often neglected. Façade-mounted building integrated photovoltaics could contribute to supply the energy demand of buildings in dense urban areas with economic feasibility where the availability of suitable rooftop areas is low. This paper deals with the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of building integrated photovoltaic systems (BIPV) in the capitals of all the European member state countries plus Norway and Switzerland and presents a metric to investigate a proper subsidy or incentive for BIPV systems. The results showed that the average LCOE of the BIPV system as a building envelope material for the entire outer skin of buildings in Europe is equal to 0.09 Euro per kWh if its role as the power generator is considered in the economic calculations. This value will be 0.15 Euro per kWh if the cost corresponding to its double function in the building is taken into the economic analysis (while the average electricity price is 0.18 Euro per kWh). The results indicate that the BIPV generation cost in most case studies has already reached grid parity. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that on average in Europe, the BIPV system does not need a feed-in tariff if the selling price to the grid is equal to the purchasing price from the grid. Various incentive plans based on the buying/selling price of electricity from/to the main grid together with LCOE of the BIPV systems is also investigated.