PV in Built Environment

PV Bus-stop shelter with
semi-transparent curved
modules (Röhm)

Bahnhof 2000 Station PV
Roof (Atlantis Photovoltaik)

Photovoltaics used in the built environment has the potential to supply a large proportion of the electricity used in most buildings and hence a large proportion of the electricity needs of most urban areas and indeed countries. PV is the only renewable technology that can be widely used in the urban environment as it can be integrated into buildings and other structures (such as noise barriers, parking area's and railway canopies). It requires no extra land, is silent and motionless in operation, generates no emissions and provides power at the point of use (so avoiding transmission losses).

Around 50% of the UK's energy needs is consumed in buildings. As the majority of buildings could potentially support PV systems and a typical system on a house roof could supply 40-50% of the buildings annual electricity demand some simple calculations show that PV has the potential to supply a significant proportion of the UK electricity requirements. The enormous potential of PV explains its prominence in renewable energy policies and assessments worldwide despite the fact that costs are still very high compared with current electricity prices.

Previous IEA-PVPS activity in the area of PV in the Built Environment started in January 1997 and finished at the end of December 2001. The main objective of this work (PVPS Task 7) was to enhance the architectural quality, the technical quality and the economic viability of PV systems in the built environment and to assess and remove non-technical barriers for their introduction as an energy-significant option. The work concentrated on assisting the long-term development of building integrated PV, as well as on contributing to the short-term marketing opportunities. The UK was involved throughout the life of the Task. Other participating countries included: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Further details of the work completed and activity outputs are available here .

A new IEA-PVPS activity in Urban Scale Photovoltaic Applications (PVPS Task 10) has recently started. The long term aim of the task is for urban-scale photovoltaics to be a desirable and commonplace feature of the urban environment in IEA PVPS member countries. It sets out to enhance the opportunities for wide-scale, solution-oriented application of photovoltaic power electricity production in the urban environment. Value analysis, policy incentives, analysis tools as well as system design and integration will be developed into a uniform international set of tools for the global market. The UK 's participation in Task 10 is still being discussed. Further information on the task can be found on the international IEA PVPS website .