In-depth Interpretation of BIPV: The Revolution of Architecture and Photovoltaics in a Multi-billion Dollar Market

With the formal entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol,

how to achieve sustainable environmental protection has become the strongest global call.

As a developing country, China's energy consumption has been growing at an alarming rate year by year,

and buildings, as major energy consumers (in developed countries, building energy consumption generally accounts for more than 1/3 of the national total energy consumption), their energy-saving benefits have become particularly important, and BIPV has therefore become a hot spot in the 21st-century building and photovoltaic technology market.

 

 

What is BIPV ?

 

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV, where PV stands for Photovoltaic) is a technology that integrates solar power generation (photovoltaic) products into buildings. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) differs from the form of photovoltaic systems attached to buildings (BAPV: Building Attached PV).

 

Depending on the way the photovoltaic array is combined with the building, building-integrated photovoltaics can be divided into two categories: one is the combination of the photovoltaic array and the building. The other is the integration of the photovoltaic array and the building. Such as photovoltaic tile roofs, photovoltaic curtain walls and photovoltaic skylights. Among these two methods, the combination of photovoltaic arrays and buildings is a commonly used form, especially the combination with building roofs. Because the combination of photovoltaic arrays and buildings does not occupy extra ground space, it is the best installation method for photovoltaic power generation systems to be widely used in cities, and therefore it has attracted much attention. The integration of photovoltaic arrays and buildings is an advanced form of BIPV, which has higher requirements for photovoltaic components. Photovoltaic components must not only meet the functional requirements of photovoltaic power generation, but also the basic functional requirements of buildings.

 

 

BIPV Advantages and Disadvantages

 

Advantages:

 

• Green energy.Building-integrated solar photovoltaic technology generates green energy, using solar power generation without polluting the environment. Solar energy is the cleanest and free, and its development and utilization will not produce any ecological side effects. It is also a renewable energy source, inexhaustible and inexhaustible.
• Does not occupy land.Photovoltaic arrays are generally installed on idle roofs or exterior walls without the need for extra land, which is particularly important for urban buildings where land is expensive; summer is the peak season for electricity consumption, and it is also the time of year with the highest sunshine and photovoltaic system power generation, which can play a role in peak regulation for the power grid.
• Building-integrated solar photovoltaic technology uses grid-connected photovoltaic systems,no need for batteriesThis saves investment and is not limited by the state of charge of the battery, allowing full use of the electricity generated by the photovoltaic system.
• Plays a role in building energy saving.Photovoltaic arrays absorb solar energy and convert it into electricity, greatly reducing the overall outdoor temperature, reducing wall heat gain and indoor air conditioning cooling load, so it can also play a role in building energy saving.

 

Disadvantages:

 

• Higher cost Buildings with photovoltaic power generation systems built with integrated design are more expensive, and there is still room for improvement in scientific research and technology.
• High cost The cost of solar power generation is high. The cost of solar power generation is double that of conventional power generation.
• Unstable Solar photovoltaic power generation is unstable and is greatly affected by the weather and has volatility. This is because the sun is not available 24 hours a day, so how to solve the volatility of solar photovoltaic power generation and how to store electricity are also urgent problems to be solved.

 

 

BIPV Building Forms

 

It can be said that building-integrated photovoltaics are suitable for most buildings, such as flat roofs, sloped roofs, curtain walls, and ceilings.

 
 

Flat Roof  From the perspective of power generation, flat roofs are the most economical: 1. They can be installed at the optimal angle to obtain maximum power generation; 2. Standard photovoltaic components can be used, with optimal performance; 3. There is no conflict with the functions of the building. 4. The cost of photovoltaic power generation is the lowest, and it is the best choice from the perspective of power generation economy.

 

Sloped Roof  South-facing sloped roofs have good economy: 1. They can be installed at the optimal angle or close to the optimal angle, so the maximum or larger power generation can be obtained; 2. Standard photovoltaic components can be used, with good performance and low cost; 3. There is no conflict with the functions of the building. 4. The cost of photovoltaic power generation is the lowest or lower, and it is one of the preferred installation schemes for photovoltaic systems. Others (slightly south) are secondary.

 

Photovoltaic Curtain Wall   Photovoltaic curtain walls must meet BIPV requirements: In addition to power generation functions, they must meet all the functional requirements of curtain walls: including external maintenance, transparency, mechanics, aesthetics, safety, etc., high component cost, low photovoltaic performance; they must be designed, constructed and installed simultaneously with the building, and the progress of the photovoltaic system project is subject to the overall progress of the building; the photovoltaic array deviates from the optimal installation angle, and the output power is low; the power generation cost is high; it enhances the social value of the building and brings the effect of a green concept.

 

 

Photovoltaic Skylight  Photovoltaic skylights require transparent components, and the component efficiency is low; in addition to power generation and transparency, the skylight components must meet certain mechanical, aesthetic, and structural connection requirements in terms of building, high component cost; high power generation cost; enhance the social value of the building and bring the effect of a green concept.

BIPV Building Design

 

Photovoltaic component performance requirementsAs a common photovoltaic component, as long as it passes the IEC61215 test and meets the requirements of resisting 130km/h (2,400Pa) wind pressure and the impact of 25mm diameter hail at 23m/s. Photovoltaic components used as curtain wall panels and skylight panels not only need to meet the performance requirements of photovoltaic components, but also the three-property test requirements of curtain walls and building safety performance requirements, so they need higher mechanical properties and different structural methods. For example, a common photovoltaic component with a size of 1200mm×530mm generally only needs 3.2mm thick tempered extra-white glass and an aluminum alloy frame to meet the usage requirements. However, for components of the same size used in BIPV buildings, at different locations, different floor heights, and different installation methods, the requirements for its glass mechanical properties may be completely different. The components used in the outer circulating double-layer curtain wall of Nanbo Building are photovoltaic components made of two 6mm thick tempered extra-white glass laminates, which is the result of rigorous mechanical calculations.

 

 

Aesthetic RequirementsA BIPV building is first and foremost a building; it is a work of art by the architect, equivalent to a musician's music or a painter's masterpiece. For a building, light is its soul, thus buildings have extremely high requirements for light and shadow. However, the glass used in ordinary photovoltaic components is mostly textured extra-white tempered glass, and its texture has the effect of blocking vision like frosted glass. If the BIPV component is installed in a sightseeing area of a building, this location requires light transmission, in which case extra-white tempered glass should be used to make double-sided glass components to meet the building's function. At the same time, in order to save costs, ordinary flat tempered glass can be used for the glass on the back of the battery plate. The success or failure of a building depends largely on the building's appearance; sometimes even slight inconsistencies are unacceptable. However, the junction boxes of ordinary photovoltaic components are generally glued to the back of the battery plate. The junction box is relatively large and easily destroys the overall harmony of the building, which is usually unacceptable to architects. Therefore, BIPV buildings require the junction box to be omitted or hidden. In this case, the bypass diode is without the protection of the junction box, and other methods must be considered to protect it. The bypass diode and connecting wires need to be hidden in the curtain wall structure. For example, the bypass diode can be placed in the curtain wall frame structure to prevent direct sunlight and rainwater erosion. The connecting wires of ordinary photovoltaic components are usually exposed below the components. In BIPV buildings, the connecting wires of photovoltaic components are required to be completely hidden in the curtain wall structure.

 

 

Structural Performance MatchingWhen designing BIPV buildings, the voltage and current of the battery panel itself should be considered to facilitate the selection of photovoltaic system equipment. However, the exterior wall of the building may consist of geometric shapes of various sizes and forms, which will cause different voltages and currents between the components. In this case, consider dividing and adjusting the grid of the building facade to make the BIPV components closer to the standard component electrical performance. Different sizes of battery cells can also be used to meet the grid requirements to maximize the effect of the building facade. In addition, a small number of battery cells on the edges and corners can be left unconnected to the circuit to meet the electrical requirements.

 

 

Utilizing Solar EnergySolar energy has created favorable conditions for environmental protection, so many architects cleverly use solar energy to build solar energy buildings.

 

1. Solar Walls: American architectural experts invented solar walls, which are equipped with a thin layer of perforated black aluminum plates on the outer side of the building walls, which can absorb 80% of the solar energy that irradiates the walls. The air sucked into the aluminum plate is preheated and then pumped into the building through a pump in the wall, thus saving the energy consumption of the central air conditioning.

 

2. Solar Windows: German scientists have invented two types of glass windows that use photothermal regulation. One is a solar temperature regulation system, which collects warm air from the surface of the building's window glass during the day and then transmits this solar energy to the wall and floor space for storage, releasing it at night; the other automatically adjusts the amount of sunlight entering the room, like color-changing sunglasses, making the window glass transparent or opaque according to the room's set temperature. 3. Solar Houses: German architect Thohles built a solar house that can rotate on its base to track the sun. The house is installed on a circular disc base, driven by a small solar electric motor and a set of gears, allowing the house base to rotate with the sun at a speed of 3 centimeters per minute on a circular track. The power consumed by this sun-tracking system is only 1% of the house's solar power generation capacity, while the house's solar power generation capacity is twice that of a general non-rotating solar house.
 

BIPV Innovation Experience

 

 

 

 

 

BIPV Application Outlook

1. Photovoltaic Applications in High-Energy-Consumption Industrial Buildings

 

“The Measures for the Quota and Assessment of Renewable Energy Power” “All types of power sales companies, power users participating in direct power trading, and enterprises with their own power plants will be subject to quota assessment. The completion of the quota is assessed by calculating the number of green certificates for renewable energy power for each quota obligated entity.”

 

 

2. Photovoltaic Applications in the Flat-to-Slope Conversion of Existing Buildings

 

[CCTV reporter] You just mentioned that one of the difficulties in the renovation of old urban communities is the raising of funds. What modes are likely to be adopted in the future to use market-oriented methods to support the renovation of old urban communities? [Huang Yan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development] I went to Guangxi for a survey last week and also proposed this topic to the mayor. Everyone feels that allowing the market to participate more in the renovation of old urban communities is an institutional innovation. Using financial support methods, it cannot just be invested without being able to operate, this is a prerequisite.

 

3. Photovoltaic Applications in the Construction of Photovoltaic Villages

 

“Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Establishing and Improving the System and Policy Framework for Integrated Urban-Rural Development” “Adhering to the new development philosophy, adhering to the promotion of high-quality development, adhering to the priority development of agriculture and rural areas, using the coordinated promotion of the rural revitalization strategy and the new urbanization strategy as a lever, and aiming at narrowing the development gap between urban and rural areas and the gap in residents’ living standards, accelerating the formation of a new urban-rural relationship that promotes mutual industrial advancement, urban-rural complementarity, comprehensive integration, and common prosperity, and accelerating the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.”

The original text could not be translated and is retained.

 

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Figure 1: Classification of Photovoltaic Power Stations

 

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) belong to distributed photovoltaics, which have advantages such as land saving, nearby consumption, and peak power regulation compared to centralized photovoltaic power stations. Building-integrated photovoltaics combine photovoltaic power generation with buildings, laying photovoltaic devices on the outer periphery of the building structure to generate electricity.

 

Building-integrated photovoltaics are divided into two categories:

1. BAPV, mounted photovoltaics, Building attached photovoltaics, photovoltaic systems attached to the surface of buildings.

2. BIPV, Building Integrated Photovoltaic, photovoltaic systems become direct building materials.

 

BAPV is a simple combination method suitable for the renovation of existing roofs. Additional steel structural supports or rails are installed directly on the building roof, and photovoltaic panels are fixed for power generation. Currently, the "county-wide promotion" of photovoltaic roofs all use this method.

Figure 2: Typical application of BAPV

 

The main problems encountered by BAPV are:

1. Load. The load of the original roof does not meet the requirements for secondary installation of photovoltaic panels, and the original roof needs to be reinforced. Some reinforcement is difficult. There are even news reports of roofs collapsing under snow and photovoltaic panels being blown away by strong winds.

2. Waterproofing. BAPV will damage the original roof waterproofing layer, and repairs are needed after construction, leading to drainage problems.

3. Safety and actual service life of photovoltaic panels. Ancillary components such as inverters and junction boxes are often exposed, affecting aesthetics and easily damaged, reducing the actual service life of BAPV.

 

BAPV is often a project that requires a one-time investment with returns over many years, and owners value the rate of return and safety. Once a major loss occurs, it may be difficult to effectively protect rights and interests. BIPV, the integration of photovoltaics and buildings, can avoid many problems of BAPV. It has advantages such as long life, reliable bearing capacity, reliable waterproofing, and easy operation and maintenance.

 

BIPVClassification and Development


BIPV is a photovoltaic system that becomes a direct building material. A series of photovoltaic building materials have been developed, including photovoltaic roofs, photovoltaic glass, photovoltaic curtain walls, and photovoltaic tiles.

Figure 3: Comparison of BIPV related products and BAPV

 

BIPVAccording to the material, it can be divided into crystalline silicon type and thin-film type.


Crystalline silicon BIPV has high conversion efficiency, with monocrystalline reaching 25%. Crystalline silicon cells are opaque, and crystalline silicon components are mainly used in opaque building projects. Of course, crystalline silicon photovoltaic curtain walls using double-sided glass can also meet certain light transmission requirements. Crystalline silicon is the most familiar type.
Longi Green Energy's "Longding" and "Longjin," JA Solar's "Jingcai," Zhonghuan XinNeng's "Zhiding," Tesla's Solar Roof V1-V3, Jinghua New Energy's "Huading," and Shangmai New Energy's "Jiwa" are all crystalline silicon products.
 

Figure 4: Opaque type crystalline silicon photovoltaic curtain wall at the headquarters of Wuxi Suntech

 

Figure 5: Crystalline silicon photovoltaic curtain wall, light transmission effect

 

Thin-film BIPV currently mainly includes cadmium telluride (CdTe) cells, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cells, and perovskite solar cells.
The average efficiency of cadmium telluride in commercial applications is 14.7%. Copper indium gallium selenide cells currently have the highest efficiency among thin-film types, approaching 20%. The efficiency is lower than that of crystalline silicon, but thin-film also has advantages that crystalline silicon does not have: adjustable transparency, better low-light performance, and better temperature coefficient. This ensures that it can maintain operation under extreme conditions such as high temperature and low light.

Figure 6: Building effect of colored thin-film cells

 

Thin-film cells are not a recent new concept. Thin-film cell technology emerged in the 1970s, surpassing crystalline silicon cells for a time, and was even called "next-generation photovoltaic technology." Later, due to the difficulty in improving efficiency, it gradually faded away.
Now, the explosion of BIPV has brought new opportunities to thin-film cells. Currently, domestic companies in the thin-film field include Longyan Energy, Mingyang Smart's subsidiary Ruiko New Energy, and Hangzhou Xianna. However, major giants in the photovoltaic industry are in the crystalline silicon cell sector. Currently, the crystalline silicon camp appears more prominent.

 

BIPVAccording to the product form, it can be divided into building material type and component type.


"Building material type" integration is more complete, completely integrating photovoltaic cells into building materials, and the appearance may not be much different from traditional building materials. It places higher demands on material strength and performance. "Building material type" is a relatively ideal form, but it has a high degree of customization, high strength requirements, and high cost.
Tesla solar roof tiles are of the "building material type." According to Customer Feedback from Musk's first batch of customers, they are suitable for people who are "financially insensitive." You can ponder that.

Figure 7: Pony Ma and Tesla Roof

 

"Component type" is biased towards standardized products, combining photovoltaic components with building components into integrated components, which are easier to distinguish from traditional building materials in appearance. This is currently the mainstream in the market, mainly photovoltaic roofs, photovoltaic curtain walls, and photovoltaic sunshades. On the one hand, it can maximize the component power generation efficiency and maximize the effective power generation area of the cells. However, standardized components also limit application scenarios, currently mainly used in the roofs of industrial and commercial buildings, rainproof carports, and other large-area roofs and large building exterior walls.
Now, photovoltaic component companies have also launched translucent and colored photovoltaic curtain walls, providing design institutes with more design styles to choose from and meeting certain architectural aesthetic design requirements.

Photovoltaic curtain walls have both photovoltaic and building properties, and need to be designed, constructed, and installed simultaneously with the building, resulting in higher costs. In addition to the power generation function, it must meet the building functional requirements: external maintenance, transparency, mechanics, aesthetics, safety, etc. Building functional requirements are higher than photovoltaic power generation requirements, and building functional requirements must be prioritized, so sometimes photovoltaic properties will be sacrificed, such as higher power generation efficiency, better light angle, and larger power generation capacity.

Figure 8: Component-type photovoltaic roof, double-sided glass and cells

 

Figure 9: King's Cross Station, London, 2014

 

The photovoltaic roof of King's Cross Station in London, in order to meet the light transmission requirements, it can be seen that the cells are relatively sparse, sacrificing higher wattage and power generation efficiency.

BIPVThree Generations of Technological Development


In summary, the development process of BIPV technology can be summarized as follows:

First generation: Photovoltaic arrays are installed on the surface of buildings with some additional support and fixing devices, similar in appearance to BAPV. Most crystalline silicon BIPV is currently mainstream.

Second generation: Mainly thin-film cells, photovoltaic components and building materials are integrated, and the appearance is beautiful. However, power electronic devices and wiring are inconvenient to arrange, reliability is low, and maintenance costs are high.

Third generation, photovoltaic systems, building materials, and power conversion devices are all integrated. High customization requirements and high costs. Needs to develop a new generation of technology and materials.

 

With the further improvement of the economic efficiency of photovoltaic building-related products, photovoltaic buildings will achieve rapid development, contributing to the "carbon neutrality" of the building industry. This article introduces six application cases of photovoltaic buildings using power generation glass building materials for your reference.

 

 

1. Xiong'an Business Service Center

 

The Xiong'an Business Service Center project is located north of the Xiong'an Citizen Service Center. It is a functional area that undertakes the relocation of non-capital functions from Beijing, focusing on business, finance, service outsourcing, and free trade zone-related industries, creating an industrial cluster integrating headquarters economy and technological innovation. After completion, the Xiong'an Business Service Center will, together with the Xiong'an Citizen Service Center, provide comprehensive service support for the construction and development of the Xiong'an New Area.
 

 

The convention center will meet the three-star rating standard of green buildings. The project uses high-efficiency electromechanical equipment, including high-efficiency energy-saving transformers, high-efficiency energy-saving water pumps, water-saving appliances that meet the first-level energy efficiency, and safe and efficient LED lighting. An air quality monitoring system that can monitor indoor PM2.5 concentration is also set up.

 

 

The project features the country's first large-scale roof with interspersed design of ceramic tiles and photovoltaic tiles. Traditional ceramic tiles have good heat insulation and heat preservation functions, and solar photovoltaic panels provide continuous clean energy for the building.

 

The combination of frosted photovoltaic tiles and ceramic tiles takes into account both power generation efficiency and the overall architectural effect, while avoiding light pollution caused by reflection.

 

 

The project uses 10,355 cadmium telluride thin-film photovoltaic flat tiles, with an installed capacity of about 486.68 kWp and an annual power generation of over 400,000 kWh, equivalent to a reduction of nearly 400 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

 

 

2. China Pavilion, World Horticultural Exposition

 

The China Pavilion of the 2019 Beijing World Horticultural Exposition is located at the end of the landscape axis of the Mountain and Water Garden in the core landscape area of the Expo. It occupies the most important position in the entire park and is one of the most important buildings of the Expo, forming the core landscape area of the Expo park together with the International Pavilion, the Performing Arts Center, the Lawn Theater, and Tiantian.

 The 2019 World Horticultural Exposition, themed "Green Life, Beautiful Home," is divided into five areas: the China Pavilion, the International Pavilion, the Plant Pavilion, the Life Experience Pavilion, and the Performing Arts Center. At the foot of the mountains and by the Gui River, the World Horticultural Exposition is like a green scroll, showcasing a "green business card" to the world.
 

 

The steel structure roof of the China Pavilion is equipped with 1,024 gold photovoltaic glass panels, which can generate electricity even without direct sunlight, better fitting the building's shape. The glazed tiles gather solar energy, creating a brilliant picture and lighting up the night of the World Horticultural Exposition. 

 

 

The project uses solar photovoltaic technology and other green technologies to make the China Pavilion a living, breathing building. The project successfully passed the green building identification evaluation and obtained the three-star green building identification.

 

 

3. Datong Future Energy Museum

 

As the most important landmark building in the Datong International Energy Revolution Science and Technology Innovation Park, the Shanxi Datong Future Energy Museum undertakes the important strategic functions of comprehensively publicizing and displaying the achievements of Shanxi's energy revolution and leading the technological innovation of the energy revolution. It is a comprehensive exhibition hall integrating six museums: the Energy Strategic Planning Museum, the Energy Civilization Dissemination Museum, the Energy Revolution Demonstration Museum, the Energy Science Popularization Education Museum, the Energy Life Experience Museum, and the Energy Technology Exhibition Museum. To embody Shanxi Province's leading image in the global energy development and transformation process, the building itself is also part of the energy revolution demonstration.

 

 

The Datong Future Energy Exhibition Hall achieves the ultra-high-performance building indicators of "Three-Star Green Building + Ultra-Low Energy Consumption Certification + Healthy Building." Under the design concept of "passive priority, active optimization," it utilizes a number of passive technologies, including the envelope structure with excellent thermal insulation performance and high airtightness, high-efficiency energy-saving passive doors and windows curtain walls, summer shading, prevention of thermal bridges, underground wind system, and organized indoor fresh air supply and heat recovery system.

 

The Datong Energy Museum maximizes the use of the building's exterior surface,Using building-integrated photovoltaic technology to achieve a photovoltaic power generation capacity of nearly 1 MW, coupled with DC microgrid technology with energy storage to improve the utilization efficiency of renewable energy, thus achieving the building's energy consumption target of "zero energy consumption,"It is the first positive energy building of the exhibition hall type to be implemented nationwide.

 

 

 

4. Jiaxing Railway Station

 

Jiaxing Railway Station was designed by MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, and is known as the "Railway Station in the Forest."The renovation and expansion project started on June 23, 2020. The station is designed with one floor above ground and multiple floors underground, making it China's first fully sunken railway station.

 The railway station renovation planted more than 1,500 trees, including Zelkova, Cinnamomum camphora, Osmanthus fragrans, maple trees, Sapium sebiferum, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, and cherry blossoms. The main spiritual axis based on the old station building runs through the entire project, with Zelkova trees planted on both sides. After the Zelkova trees are fully grown, their crowns will connect to cover the entire north square in front of the station. More than 500 large trees, including Zelkova, Cinnamomum camphora, Osmanthus fragrans, and maple trees, are planted inside and outside the station building, with Zelkova trees being over 30 years old. 

 

In addition to being called the "Railway Station in the Forest," Jiaxing Railway Station is also a power-generating "green" railway station. According to statistics, about 12,000 high-efficiency cadmium telluride thin-film photovoltaic building materials were installed on the roofs of the north and south station buildings. After the project is put into production, the estimated annual power generation is 1.1 million kWh, equivalent to a reduction of about 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

 

 

Jiaxing Railway Station cleverly uses photovoltaic building materials to transform the "fifth facade of the building (roof)" into an "ecological fifth facade,"Not only does it highlight the aesthetic function of the roof, but it is also a bold exploration and attempt of green and clean photovoltaic technology on the building roof, fully highlighting the "green building concept" and providing important reference and demonstration for the construction and renovation of high-speed railway stations, airports, convention centers, shopping malls, and other public buildings in the future.

 The renovated Jiaxing Railway Station may bring transformative inspiration to Chinese cities undergoing urban construction. Transcending utilitarianism and functionalism, transforming municipal and public buildings into high-quality humanistic urban spaces will be the next milestone in China's urban development.

 

 

5. Jiaxing Xiuzhou Science and Technology Innovation Service Center

 

The Jiaxing Xiuzhou New District Science and Technology Service Center project is located in Xiuzhou District, Jiaxing, and serves as the new administrative approval service center for Xiuzhou District. Xiuzhou Photovoltaic Town is committed to becoming a leading domestic demonstration area for large-scale application of distributed photovoltaic power generation, a globally leading photovoltaic computing and R&D innovation area, and a nationally renowned characteristic photovoltaic intelligent manufacturing center, a photovoltaic characteristic town that is "suitable for work, living, tourism, and benefits industries, people, and life."

 

 

The photovoltaic curtain wall adopts a modular bright frame and a partial vertical bright and horizontal hidden combination curtain wall system. The fish scale-shaped area uses cadmium telluride photovoltaic glass. It uses 931 pieces of 40% light-transmitting cadmium telluride thin-film translucent photovoltaic glass with a maximum size of 1592mm*2185mm and a total of 30 sizes, covering a total area of 2013 square meters, with an installed capacity of approximately 150KW. The structure of the photovoltaic glass is: 5TP+3.2CDTE+5TP+12A+8TP.

 

 

During the design and construction process, the project solved many highly difficult technical problems of photovoltaic curtain walls, such as strictly requiring the color consistency of photovoltaic glass and LOW_E glass, oversized sizes, photovoltaic glass string design, and hidden wiring design.

 

 

6. Shenzhou International Colorful Pattern Photovoltaic Curtain Wall

 

The Shenzhou International Colorful Pattern Photovoltaic Curtain Wall project is located on the side of the factory building of Ningbo Shenzhou International Group Holding Co., Ltd. This photovoltaic curtain wall project is invested by State Grid (Ningbo) Integrated Energy Service Co., Ltd. and uses cadmium telluride thin-film color pattern photovoltaic building materials. It is a model project for green energy-saving renovation of existing buildings.

 

The project adopts a photovoltaic building integrated design to renovate existing factory buildings. It is not only beautiful and fashionable, with heat insulation and heat preservation, but also brings continuous power generation income to the enterprise for more than 25 years.

 

 

As a trillion-level market, further elaboration on the economic feasibility, potential scale, and trends of the BIPV industry.

 

BIPV is expected to become a new outlet for infrastructure construction.

 

BIPV (Building Integrated PV, PV stands for Photovoltaic) is a technology that integrates solar power generation (photovoltaic) products into buildings. It is not a new concept, but an application scenario of photovoltaics. Its earliest application can be traced back to satellites and the International Space Station, where the photovoltaic power generation structure on the satellite is the earliest prototype of the integration of photovoltaics and structure.

 

From the perspective of BIPV's branches, it belongs to distributed photovoltaics. Because it combines with buildings to generate electricity, it brings huge potential for energy, and therefore has always been popular and is the most promising distributed photovoltaic system. Similar to it is another branch—BAPV (Building Attached Photovoltaic), which refers to a solar photovoltaic power generation system installed on buildings.

 

Globally and in China, building energy consumption accounts for more than 30% of all industries, making it a major source of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Photovoltaic energy empowerment of buildings can effectively solve this problem, so BIPV is a necessary means to achieve zero-energy buildings. In recent years,With the continuous decline in the cost of photovoltaic components, the era of affordable prices is approaching, and the economic benefits of BIPV are becoming more prominent.

 

The forms of combining photovoltaics with building materials mainly include combinations with roofs, walls, and shading devices. According to the schematic diagram in "Solar Photovoltaic and Building Integrated Construction" edited by Jiangsu Provincial Urban Planning and Design Research Institute, the solar power generation system can be combined with roof, skylight, curtain wall, balcony, railing and other building structures to form green, environmentally friendly and energy-saving buildings. It can also be combined with building materials to form photovoltaic shading components and photovoltaic awnings to achieve shading and rain protection.

Compared with traditional roofs and BAPV, it has stronger reliability and economy. 

 

Reliability:Currently, industrial and commercial factory roofs generally use cement or color-coated steel tiles. The lifespan of color-coated steel tiles is generally around 10 years, while the lifespan of BIPV roofs can reach more than 20 years. However, for BAPV roofs, because BAPV requires roof modification, it inevitably causes problems such as roof drilling and locking, resulting in damage to the roof structure. 

 

Economy:Generally speaking, traditional roofs or curtain walls do not generate benefits after construction, while BAPV and BIPV can generate electricity to save energy and create economic benefits. For BIPV, due to its customized nature, it can fully utilize the roof structure area and greatly improve the utilization efficiency of the roof or wall surface. Judging from the income of the Fujian Production Command Center and Xingye R&D Building,the cost can basically be recovered within 5-8 years, and the economic benefits are significant.

 

Judging from the policy, capital, and project reserve levels this year, the certainty of accelerated infrastructure investment is relatively high, and BIPV is expected to rapidly increase in volume.

 

Market Potential and Trends of BIPV

 

The press conference held by the National Energy Administration on August 2 stated that in the first half of 22, the newly installed domestic photovoltaic capacity was 30.88GW, a year-on-year increase of 119%, of which distributed photovoltaics increased by 19.65GW. Looking at distributed photovoltaics alone, household photovoltaics increased by about 9.5GW, a year-on-year increase of 52%, and industrial and commercial distributed photovoltaics increased by about 10.7GW, a year-on-year increase of 268%.Distributed photovoltaic installations achieved rapid development in the first half of the year.BIPV is an important part of distributed photovoltaics, and at the same time, it is one of the few fields that overlap with the "dual carbon + infrastructure construction" concept, with short-term steady growth support.

 

Tianfeng Securities CalculationBy 2025, the market space for newly built factory-type BIPV is expected to reach 69.3 billion yuan, with a CAGR of +82.8% from 20 to 25.

 

Potential Market for Factory and Warehouse BIPV

 

Xingye Securities analysis shows that in the long term, under the background of dual carbon, BIPV is an important tool to reduce carbon emissions during building operation, and one of the most promising directions in the future.At the same time, in the long term, the downward trend of infrastructure construction to the county-level market has become apparent, which is expected to accelerate the promotion of "photovoltaic whole-county promotion." The market size is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2025.

 

BIPV Market Size Calculation

 

Industry Trend: Strong Alliance between "Building + Photovoltaic" Enterprises

 

BIPV products are mainly composed of photovoltaic components and building structures. The industrial chain of photovoltaic components is similar to that of BAPV and centralized photovoltaic power stations, and it is the main link for BIPV product iteration and cost reduction.

 

The core competitiveness of photovoltaic enterprises lies in the development of BIPV products. They lack experience in building materials and construction, have limited project resources, and lack professional architectural qualifications, architectural R&D design, and construction management capabilities. It is difficult for them to independently enter the building market and undertake BIPV engineering construction in the short term.

 

On the other hand, construction companies possess certain business resources such as industrial and commercial workshops and government investment platforms, which are important links in the docking and implementation of BIPV. However, the difficulty for construction companies in carrying out BIPV projects lies in the fact that BIPV product development has certain technological barriers. Photovoltaic products have become increasingly mature, while construction units lack the corresponding resources in aspects such as photovoltaic component production. If they develop independently, the R&D investment cost is high, and it is difficult to develop competitive products.

 

Only through equity cooperation or strategic investment to form a deep partnership can construction and photovoltaic enterprises achieve a synergistic effect, allowing for rapid product expansion and market share capture in the context of rapid BIPV industry growth.