Advancements and Applications of Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) in China

Power generation in buildings plays an important role in promoting carbon neutrality in the building sector. Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) could provide energy (electricity) to buildings and thus decrease carbon footprint by buildings’ operation. With the price of photovoltaic (PV) continues to decrease, BIPV is increasingly being studied and applied in academic and engineering fields. As a comparatively novel technology, BIPV faces a series of problems to be solved in practical applications, such as selections of PV components materials, methods to ensure structural safety, ways for heat dissipation of PV system, selections of PV color, determinations of light transmission and shading performance. Through reviewing literature and refining engineering experience, the study analyzed and discussed potential approaches to solve above mentioned issues for improving energy efficiency, cost effectiveness and structural safety of BIPV and promoting the application of BIPV in building sector.