Building Integrated PV Application in the Island of Crete

The building under consideration is located in the island of Crete, Greece with almost the highest solarity in Europe. Its current use is the administration and several laboratories of the Environmental Engineering department in the campus of Technical University of Crete. The building has a large sun lounge, and the purpose of our study is to check the effect of its orientation in the energy production from Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) to be installed on it. By using the architectural and electromechanical data provided by the technical department of the university and the software tool ecotect v5.5 a 3D model has been developed and it has estimated the lighting level inside with or without the installed BIPV. By calculating the energy produced per BIPV surface we can suggest the optimum orientation of the building in order to maximize the electricity generated. Finally with the visualization routine the visual impact on the building after the PV installation can be estimated.