Efficiency characteristic of building integrated photovoltaics as a shading device

A building-integrated photovoltaic system (BIPV) has been operated over 1 year in the Samsung Institute of Engineering & Construction Technology (SIECT) in Korea. The PV cells are mounted on the south facade and on the roof of the SIECT in the Giheung area. Special care was taken in the building design to have the PV modules shade the building in the summer, so as to reduce cooling loads, while at the same time allowing solar energy to enter the building during the heating season, and providing daylight. This paper gives a 1 year analysis of the system performance, evaluation of the system efficiency and the power output, taking into account the weather conditions. As a part of certain design compromises, that took into account, aesthetic, safety, and cost considerations, non-optimal tilt angles and occasional shading of the PV modules made the efficiency of PV system lower than the peak rating of the cells. The yearly average efficiency of the sunshade solar panel is 9.2% (average over 28.6degreesC surface temperature), with a minimum of 3.6% (average over 27.9degreesC surface temperature) in June and a maximum of 20.2% (average over 19.5degreesC surface temperature) in December. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.