Policies and Trends to Mitigate Climate Change Impacts by Integrating Solar Photovoltaics in Buildings and Cities: Emphasis on Egypt’s Experience

Decarbonization is considered one of the immediate actions to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) or building-applied photovoltaics (BAPV) are the direct means to achieve such goal in the building industry sector. This chapter aims at reviewing trends and policies to mitigate climate change globally and in Egypt as well as demonstrating examples of BIPV or BAPV in buildings and cities. To achieve such objective, the chapter highlights various global examples of BIVP in different countries. It also depicts the solar intensity map of Egypt in terms of average yearly radiation intensity and sunshine hours. In addition, the chapter presents the Egyptian government and local authorities’ actions in promoting cleaner energy and integrating PVs, not only in buildings, but also in solar power plants; emphasizing the largest solar power plant in the world (Binban in Aswan, Egypt with clean power capacity of 1.8 GW). In addition, the chapter depicts the PV capacity targets to reach 42% of the country’s energy mix in Egypt by 2035. It sheds light on successful examples of integrated PV in buildings and cities to reduce the dependency on the grid conventional energy and provide a reliable alternative source of cleaner energy. Moreover, the chapter exhibits selected buildings and projects that describe the type and size of installed PV along with the power generated, besides how these PV capacities contribute to the total buildings’ energy consumption, i.e., consuming or consuming and generating. Furthermore, the narrative covers the latest technologies supporting the integration of PVs in various projects with different nature globally. Finally, local case studies are discussed and analysed to provide learned lessons and significance of BIPV or PAPV in cities. Ultimately, the application of clean energy and integrating PV in buildings and cities in Egypt would contribute to global initiatives to mitigate climate change and attain COP26 outcomes – mitigate 45% of CO2 emissions by 2030 and reach Net-Zero by 2050, hence, achieve climate neutrality.