Window and Facade Magazine (Sept-Oct 2020)

Page 28

Cladding - Solar Façades

Applications of BIPV Technology in India World’s Largest BIPV Project & Commercial Viability for Future

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UILDING INTEGRATED PHOTO-VOLTAICS GLOBAL CONTEXT The BIPV (Building I n t e g r a t e d Photovoltaics) method includes the replacement of the traditional construction element with materials incorporating solar modules. This offers a dual function, namely to produce energy and to provide a functional and aesthetic construction element for the finished building. It has been proven by the European commission that introducing photovoltaics improves the energy efficiency of the building, if done properly. Moreover, as of now the market has matured for the technology in regions like USA, Europe, China so far so that the market for BIPV modules could be worth $5 billion in USA alone. There are various methods by which BIPV can be used in buildings, viz. glazes, tiles, façades, and cladding. India has to some extent or the other used all of these methods to integrate solar PV into building features. The installations in the west are

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WFM | SEP - OCT 2020

Solar façades - GDF Suez at Dijon, Bourgogne (Source - ISSOL; Atelier Phileas)

now proving the feasibility of the technology by i) improvement in ventilation for BIPV installations to reduce panel temperature and ii) development of new thin film technology that are better suited for integration.

INTRODUCTION OF BIPV IN INDIA, LARGEST IN THE WORLD CtrlS Datacentre Ltd., Mumbai Many BIPV projects started coming up in India since 2017 onwards. These were mainly for smaller solar projects such as homes. In 2019,


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