Latest Review Paper about colouring technologies for BIPV!
© 2024 Elsevier
PV-Lab is happy to share that our latest review paper "Colouring solutions for building integrated photovoltaic modules: A review" has been published in Energy and Buildings! This work gives an overview of the various colouring solutions for BIPV including processes, power losses, costs, reliability and measurement techniques.
A big thanks to all the co-authors Alejandro Borja Block, Jordi Escarre Palou, Marie Courtant, Alessandro Virtuani, Gianluca Cattaneo, Maxime Roten, Heng-Yu Li, Matthieu Despeisse, Aïcha Hessler-Wyser, Umang Desai, Antonin Faes, Christophe Ballif for the fruitful collaboration!
Abstract from the article:
''As global decarbonisation requires the widespread adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity, addressing challenges related to land use has become relevant. The conflict between PV installations and other land uses, such as forestry or agriculture, highlights the urgency for alternative solutions. Integrating PV technology into the built environment is a compelling strategy to mitigate these challenges, enabling electricity generation precisely where it is needed. In the context of buildings integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), PV modules serve a dual purpose, functioning both as electricity generators and integral components of the architectural design. Therefore, the architecture requirements — specifically in terms of shape, size, and colour— become relevant for BIPV modules. This paper offers a general overview of the diverse colouring technologies employed for BIPV modules, describing their functioning, challenges, and advantages. An examination of the current landscape of coloured PV products involving considerations of pricing and power output is presented. Additionally, this work addresses the critical topics of reliability and stability in colour solutions, outlining methodologies for quantitative colour characterization. It provides foresight into the potential challenges facing installations in the future and explores the multifaceted social, economic, and environmental implications of this evolving technology.''
This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Be-SMART project (818009) and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 754354. It has been funded in part by DELIGHT project (SOLAR-ERA.NET), Building integrated lightweight PV (BeePV) (INNOSUISSE project number 104.300.1 IP-EE) and Swiss excellence government scholarship (grant id: 2023.0173). This work has received funding by the European Union and by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) under grant agreements 101096126 (SEAMLESS-PV), 101136094 (SPHINX project) and 101136112 (INCREASE project).