BIPV: A Green Engine and Future Choice for Green Building Development

BIPV is expected to become a 'standard configuration' for green buildings before 2030, contributing 10%-15% to emission reduction in achieving carbon neutrality goals.

In the wave of green building development, BIPV (Building-Integrated Photovoltaics) technology acts like a powerful green engine, leading the construction industry towards a new journey of low-carbon transformation. As a key technology for green buildings, BIPV not only provides strong support for optimizing energy structures but also demonstrates huge potential in improving economic benefits, becoming an important force in promoting the development of green buildings.The construction industry is a major carbon emitter, accounting for 50.6% of China's total carbon emissions, with 21.6% from operational emissions.Faced with such a severe situation, the emergence of BIPV technology undoubtedly brings new hope for building carbon reduction. By directly integrating photovoltaic power generation systems into the exterior walls and roofs of buildings, BIPV enables buildings to generate their own electricity, greatly reducing reliance on traditional power. Taking the Hangzhou Convention and Exhibition Center as an example, its photovoltaic glass roof can provide a large amount of green electricity annually, reducing electricity costs by about 30%.

Hangzhou Convention and Exhibition Center Photovoltaic Lighting Roof

Even more exciting is that by 2025, China's BIPV installed capacity is expected to soar to 30.2GW, with an annual power generation exceeding 36 billion kWh, equivalent to a reduction of about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This injects strong impetus into achieving the "dual carbon" goals. The economic efficiency and energy-saving effects of BIPV are equally remarkable. Compared with traditional building-attached photovoltaics (BAPV), BIPV directly replaces building materials such as glass curtain walls and roof tiles, saving both material costs and installation costs. At the same time, the rapid growth of the global BIPV market size adds unlimited possibilities to its investment prospects. By 2030, the global BIPV market size is expected to reach hundreds of billions of US dollars, and China, as the largest incremental market, will have a compound annual growth rate exceeding 130% in the next 5 years. Driven by policies, such as Qingdao's requirement that 50% of newly built public buildings have photovoltaic coverage on their roofs by 2025, and Hunan's proposal to promote BIPV in all newly built buildings, this will further unleash the market potential of BIPV and promote its rapid economic development.

In addition to economic efficiency and energy-saving effects, BIPV has also promoted innovation in architectural aesthetics and functions. Through customized photovoltaic components, such as cadmium telluride thin-film photovoltaic glass and photovoltaic tiles, BIPV perfectly combines power generation functions with architectural aesthetics. The "Sky Mirror" photovoltaic roof of the Hangzhou Convention and Exhibition Center is a typical example, satisfying power generation needs while also possessing artistic appreciation, becoming a new model of architectural aesthetics. However, the cross-field integration characteristics of BIPV have also raised its technical threshold, promoting the improvement of industry competitiveness. Currently, only a few companies have full-industry-chain service capabilities, which has driven the industry towards high-quality development. Driven by policies, the large-scale application of BIPV is also accelerating. The National Conference on Housing and Urban-Rural Construction clearly stated that by 2025, newly built buildings will fully implement green building standards, and BIPV will be listed as a key pilot technology. Many places have also introduced subsidy policies to promote the widespread application of BIPV technology. By the end of 2023, China's cumulative installed capacity of BIPV has exceeded 16GW, covering commercial buildings, public facilities, and residential areas. Longyan Energy's "Moyun," "Qingying," "Tiangong," and "Yiwa" series products have achieved large-scale mass production, with an annual production capacity of hundreds of thousands of square meters, marking that BIPV technology is gradually moving towards maturity and large-scale application.

However, the development of BIPV also faces some challenges, such as high construction costs, long investment return periods, and a lack of unified technical standards. However, these problems are not insurmountable. Through accelerating the formulation of national standards, promoting industry chain collaborative innovation, and combining new technologies to improve energy utilization efficiency, we can gradually solve these problems and promote the BIPV industry from "demonstration application" to "full popularization."BIPV is expected to become a 'standard configuration' for green buildings before 2030, contributing 10%-15% to emission reduction in achieving carbon neutrality goals.Looking to the future, BIPV is not only a core technology for building carbon reduction but also a new growth point for green economic development. Driven by policy guidance, technological innovation, and market expansion,