Abstract

The extended use of fossil fuels for power generation resulted in energy crisis and serious environmental problems, such as global warming etc. Nowadays, the deployment of “green” technologies related to renewable resources aspires to change the conventional power flow directions. In this framework, scientific community puts all the efforts to provide a sustainable and efficient solutions in respect with renewable resources and their application. Taking into consideration the fact that 68% of the world population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, the use of renewable energy sources as part of the building envelope could potentially provide a promising solution, transforming buildings from “energy consumers” to “energy producers”. One of the most appealing and easily installed technologies of renewable generation is related to the photovoltaic systems (PVs). However, the challenge is to increase the possible integration of PVs into the building infrastructure. For the successful integration of PVs into the building envelope, aesthetic issues along with technological issues, such as the highest possible energy performance, need to be considered and addressed.

This paper aims to present a new generation of PVs, under the frame of the EU funded research program “Construct PV”. According to the “Construct PV” concept, PV panels are not mere means of harvesting solar energy, but they are customizable, efficient and low-cost building components, integrated in the opaque part of the building skin. Furthermore, the real demonstration BIPV installation, constructed on the roof of the School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at NTUA premises will be presented. At the demonstration site, an advanced online monitoring system has been installed providing the ability to gather all the necessary data for the performance evaluation of the BIPV system, such as power and specific energy yield. Additionally, for an in-depth and detailed analysis, several different sensors have also been installed, accumulating data from weather conditions to specific in-plane solar irradiation and module temperature in correlation to different inclinations. In this paper, the performance evaluation as well as the factors affecting the performance (i.e. temperature, shading effect) are discussed and analyzed, quantifying the results for the new BIPV technology.