The Effects of Design Factors of BIPV Systems on Electricity Generation

The integration of a photovoltaic system into buildings requires the consideration of its constructability and functions to get its optimized performance, as its installation is different from the conventional PV installation method that needs supporting structures opened to air. The efficiency of building-integrated PV(BIPV) system is determined by the method that is applied to the building envelope, as well as the efficiency of PV system itself. In addition to the general specifications of a PV system, there are various design factors that may decide the performance of the BIPV systems; orientation and tilt angle of PV modules, ventilation space between PV module and building elements, array configuration and so on. These factors are related to the temperature of building-integrated PV modules that subsequently have an effect on the system´s performance. In order to design optimized BIPV systems, it is required to perform the quantitative analysis about the effect of those design factors on the electricity generation of BIPV systems. This study aims to define the effects of BIPV design factors on the performance of the BIPV system, particularly considering the PV module temperature. At first, a web-based tool, PV COOL-Build Calculator, was used to calculate the temperature of the BIPV modules. Based on the calculated temperatures of those modules, the electricity generation of a BIPV system with a capacity of lOkWp was modeled. It then performed a sensitivity study of design factors of BIPV systems on their energy performance, and produced the optimized design conditions for the system.