On January 1, 1997, IEA's PV Power Systems Programme initiated a new five-year task: Task 7 - PV in the Built Environment.

The use of PV in the built environment offers a number of attractions: substantial cost savings can be achieved by combining power generation with other functions such as weatherproofing or shading, which means that separate support structures and high-value land are not required. For power utilities, a major attraction is that electricity is generated at the point of use, avoiding transmission and distribution losses, and reducing capital and maintenance costs.

But PV integration offers more than cost benefits: it has the potential to allow designers to create environmentally benign and energy efficient buildings without sacrificing comfort, aesthetics or economy. The challenge for the PV industry is to provide cost-effective products capable of meeting common building quality standards, so that the owners and users will have long-term confidence in the performance of the PV system, both as an electricity sources and as a building material. But it is also important that the physical characteristics of PV products for integration in building meet architectural requirements such as colour, size and materials. This obviously has economic implications, as 'custom-made' PV modules are more expensive than standard ones.

PV in the Built Environment, with 14 participating countries, has been divided into four work areas to address these demands:

• Architectural quality of PV systems
• Technical quality ('buildability')
• Non-technical barriers (including assessment of the economics of building integrated PV)
• Dissemination of the results.

An essential ingredient for successful integration of PV into urban environment is the active involvement of town planners, architects, building engineers and the building industry. The new Task will facilitate the collaboration between these groups and PV system specialists, utility specialists, and the PV industry to take up this challenge effectively on the national, regional and international levels. The joint effort will consist mainly of the evaluation and development of innovative concepts for the integration of PV into the built environment, the demonstration of integration concepts, and contribution to the development of standards and guidelines. For further information, contact the Operating Agent of Task 7.

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