PVPS goes to town home > pv power > issue 20 >
Last updated: 16 June 2004

IEA PVPS Task 10, the new task addressing urban scale PV applications, kicked off in Vienna in February.

The success of Task 10, which is seeking to take PV from a niche building product to a desireable and commonplace feature of the urban environment within the next ten years, is dependent on generating interest amongst and meeting the needs and aspirations of a wide variety of stakeholders beyond the PV industry – from the building, finance and insurance sectors, to governments, the electricity industry, educators and trainers and of course the end-users.

Pal Town Josai-no-Mori residential estate in Ota City, Japan, is a demonstration site for research being undertaken by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) into clustered PV systems. 100 houses – many of which are built to order – have already been equipped with PV systems and a further 500 will be added before the end of Fiscal Year 2004. The project, which runs until 2007, will assess multiple aspects of high-penetration PV environments such as technologies to avoid restriction of PV system output, analysis of higher harmonics, anti-islanding operation and applied simulation technologies to assess impacts on the grid. Understanding of these issues is also one of the areas being considered under the new Task 10 and will be critical for more widespread introduction of PV. [PHOTO PROF. KUROKAWA AND MR OZEKI, TUAT]

The focus is on expanding the opportunities for wide-scale, solution-oriented applications of PV in the urban environment through approaches that also maximize building energy efficiency and solar thermal usage. To achieve these objectives, the work programme involves a very wide range of activities with emphasis on directly engaging with these groups through regular workshops and a marketing competition, as well as close cooperation with other IEA Implementing Agreements – particularly the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme and the Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems Programme. This approach will help in identifying and developing appropriate products to overcome information gaps, but Task 10 aims to go further to address other market needs and opportunities; the work plan also envisages identification of new system components and applications for urban-scale PV concepts, as well as development of design assistance tools to help embed PV consideration and integration within urban planning processes.
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Economics and institutional factors

The first of the four broad subtasks outlined in the workplan will focus on how to maximize benefits for multiple stakeholder groups. Typically to date, community policy, utility and industry needs have tended to be considered largely as separate, almost unrelated issues. This subtask aims to achieve a more holistic value-based approach that considers economic drivers alongside other broader social, developmental and environmental values. It will also assist the various national and regional PV Roadmaps to move beyond the current concept phase towards actual implementation.
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Pal Town Josai-no-Mori residential estate in Ota City, Japan, is a demonstration site for research being undertaken by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) into clustered PV systems. 100 houses – many of which are built to order – have already been equipped with PV systems and a further 500 will be added before the end of Fiscal Year 2004. The project, which runs until 2007, will assess multiple aspects of high-penetration PV environments such as technologies to avoid restriction of PV system output, analysis of higher harmonics, anti-islanding operation and applied simulation technologies to assess impacts on the grid. Understanding of these issues is also one of the areas being considered under the new Task 10 and will be critical for more widespread introduction of PV. [PHOTO RTS CORPORATION]

Urban planning, design and development

The second key activity area seeks to integrate PV within community building practices emphasising appropriate use of PV to improve both individual building and urban-level energy performance and management.
This includes developing guidelines for incorporating PV within whole building design models, building energy and environmental performance rating tools and development codes and practices.
Looking beyond the building envelope, the subtask will also seek to move PV and whole community energy infrastructure considerations into urban planning practices. This will include aspects such as aesthetics, land use, solar access and urban renewal opportunities, but within the context of community-level energy use forecasting, and load control to achieve demand reductions and maximize PV capacity value.
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Technical factors

Subtask 3 will focus on the challenges of developing and expanding the synergies between PV as an electricity supply source and as an effective building material, and on further analysing network impacts, particularly related to extensive penetration of intermittent embedded generators. Again, emphasis will focus on energy efficiency and management aspects to assure demand reduction and capacity value, including how PV control can be successfully integrated within building energy management systems and system optimization to match lighting and HVAC loads.
Part of the work will include reviews of existing codes and standards, and development of appropriate certification practices for electrical and structural performance of new market-oriented products.
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Target information development and dissemination

Critical to the whole process will be the information activities. The participating countries will host technical development and education workshops, and it is anticipated that documents and mass/multi-market promotional material arising from the Task will be translated into multiple languages.
An innovative marketing competition will also be organized, with the winner to be announced at a PV forum for the venture capital sector. One of the first public activities within the new task will be an Architects and Builders workshop for French stakeholders linked to the European PV Conference in Paris on 10 June.
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