BUILDINGS WITH BUILT-IN SUN

New Building Norms Can Drive BIPV Mainstream, with 6.6 GW Market in 2021; Building-integrated photovoltaics will likely move beyond its current aesthetic niche much sooner, by 2016 with a market size of $6 billion…
4 November 2011 (World of Photovoltaics)

"Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) can become mainstream with an estimated 6.6 GW installed in 2021 as the European Commission’s Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) standards lead to likely widespread adoption across the continent, according to a report from Lux Research.

"In the most likely scenario, BIPV will move beyond its aesthetic niche sooner – by 2016 it will climb to over 1 GW with an estimated $6 billion market in that year. But it has the even greater potential to then rise more than six-fold to 6.6 GW in 2021, as European nations scramble to meet norms that mandate new buildings to be NZEBs by 2020…"

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"…BIPV installations in Europe will be 105 MW in 2011 thanks to BIPV-specific feed-in tariff (FIT) rates in France and Switzerland. The U.S. follows closely at 103 MW due to the large number of LEED-certified buildings in the commercial sector, while Asia lags both with only 12 MW. In 2013, Europe will overtake the U.S. in installed capacity and skyrocket by 2016 to an 85% market share, driven by NZEB norms.

"…[T]he levelized cost of electricity (LCOE)…will help determine winning applications. Roofing in California, for instance, can provide an LCOE from $0.13/kWh to $0.15/kWh, while siding in Germany is over $1/kWh…Multicrystalline silicon technology offers the best LCOE for roofing, with copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin film not far behind. For façades, cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film is the obvious winner, while for commercial building siding, CIGS beats out its only major competitor, amorphous silicon (a-Si) in all geographies…"