A group of researchers from the UK with financial support from the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry, recently completed a survey of the first generation of tools to offer design capabilities for Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV).

Six different PC-based PV design tools, four operating under DOS, the other two within the Windows environment, and all readily available to building professionals in North America and Europe, were short listed for evaluation against a broad range of qualitative criteria.

The technical evaluation criteria addressed the scope of each tool including: the provision for analyzing building loads; sizing systems and determining power output; and the databases supplied to assist component and weather data selection. The overall 'user-friendliness' of each system was also assessed based on aspects such as ease of inputting or modifying site specific meteorological data and components lists, presentation of the output data (both graphical and tabular), level of guidance (manuals and help functions), and how intuitive the programs are to use.

As yet, none of the tools allow detailed technical design, but several of the packages do support outline technical design, to forecast system performance based on site-specific weather data and a detailed definition of the components that will be used (modules, inverters, etc.). Basic economic analysis capabilities are also supported in several of the tools.

Overall, the study demonstrates that there are still relatively few tools to assist would-be BIPV designers, and those that do exist must necessarily make a trade-off between ease of use and comprehensiveness of the tool. Nevertheless, the fact that such products are becoming more widely available is encouraging for the future of BIPV.

The conclusions off this research have been published in a report entitled Photovoltaics in Buildings: A survey of design tools, which is feeding into Task 7 of the IEA  PVPS Programme.

Information

• Paul Ruyssevelt
  HGa, United Kingdom
  Fax: +44 1793 815020

[ Top ] [ Previous article in PV Power ] [ Next article in PV Power ]