REBI Project

  1. Abstract

With the increasing adoption of PV in the residential market, there are still some barriers that need to be solved in order to ensure the implementation of cost-effective solutions for BIPV as opposed to passive/conventional building components. One crucial thematic is the reliability and long-term performance of the products that involves the production of electricity for 30-40 years and keeping building properties through time, such as safety, durability and comfort. Conventional PV modules mostly have 20-25 years of performance warranty, whereas traditional building elements often preserve their mechanical stability and safety aspects for 40+ years. Furthermore, BIPV modules could be exposed to more challenging operating conditions that could cause additional degradation contribution compared to ground-mounted devices. Therefore, understanding more challenging operating conditions and additional degradation contribution is crucial in order to increase the acceptance of this technology.

The primary goal of this research work is to assess and improve the reliability and long-term performance of BIPV modules and systems. This goal is divided into two research questions:

  1. Do the specific mounting configurations and operating conditions of BIPV modules impact their long-term performance and degradation rates? We will try to reply to these specific questions by:
  • Analyzing long-term monitored data from existing BIPV mock-up structures (generally high-quality monitoring)
  • Collecting long-term data from BIPV installations (with different mounting configurations and degrees of shading) and comparing the degradation rates

 

  1. How to improve the design of the BIPV modules in order to improve their reliability and long-term performance? We will try to reply to this question by:
  • Analyzing the modules from the BIPV mock-ups and systems that were investigated, in order to detect specific failure modes which can be ascribed to the specific operating conditions of BIPV modules
  • Performing accelerated-ageing tests in order to address these specific failure modes and complement the conventionally adopted industry qualification standards

 

  1. Keywords

Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), Long-term performance, Reliability, Performance Loss Rate, Performance Ratio

  1. Time frame

Start date: 01.09.2019

End date: 30.09.2023

  1. Partners

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) – Photovoltaics and Thin-Film Electronics Laboratory (PVLab)

  1. Funded by

Swiss National Science Foundation and Swiss Office of Energy

  1. Publications
  • Gok, Abdulkerim; Özkalay, Ebrar; Friesen, Gabi; Frontini, Francesco (2020), “The Influence of Operating Temperature on the Performance of BIPV Modules”, in IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 10(5), 1371 – 1378 DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2020.3001181 ISSN: 2156-3403
  • Gok, Abdulkerim; Özkalay, Ebrar; Friesen, Gabi; Frontini, Francesco (2021), “Power Loss Modes of Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Modules: An Analytical Approach Using Outdoor I-V Curves”, in IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 11(3), 789 – 796 DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2021.3060719 ISSN: 2156-3403
  • Özkalay, Ebrar; Friesen, Gabi; Caccivio, Mauro; Bonomo, Pierluigi; Fairbrother, Andrew; Ballif, Christophe; Virtuani, Alessandro (2022), “Operating Temperatures and Diurnal Temperature Variations of Modules Installed in Open-Rack and Typical BIPV Configurations”, in IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 12(1), 133 – 140 DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2021.3114988
  • Fairbrother, Andrew; Quest, Hugo; Özkalay, Ebrar; Wälchli, Philipp; Friesen, Gabi; Ballif, Christophe; Virtuani, Alessandro (2022), “Long‐Term Performance and Shade Detection in Building Integrated Photovoltaic Systems”, in Solar RRL, 6(5), 2100583 – 2100583 DOI: 10.1002/solr.202100583
  • Özkalay, Ebrar; Friesen, Gabi; Fairbrother, Andrew; Ballif, Christophe; Virtuani, Alessandro (2021), “Monitoring the Operating Temperatures of Modules in Open-Rack and Typical BIPV Configurations”, in 2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2023 – 2023 DOI: 10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9518494
  • Özkalay, Ebrar; Virtuani, Alessandro; Fairbrother, Andrew; Skoczek, Artur; Friesen, Gabi; Ballif, Christophe (2021), “Quantifying Performance Loss Rates of Photovoltaic Modules Using Ground-Based vs Satellite-Based Meteorological Data”, EU PVSEC
  • Fairbrother, Andrew; Quest, Hugo; Özkalay, Ebrar; Walchli, Philipp; Friesen, Gabi; Ballif, Christophe; Virtuani, Alessandro (2021), “Long-Term Performance of Building Integrated Photovoltaic Systems and Shade Induced Degradation”, EU PVSEC, DOI: 10.4229/EUPVSEC20212021-6DO.6.6
  • Özkalay, Ebrar; Friesen, Gabi; Virtuani, Alessandro; Fairbrother, Andrew; Caccivio, Mauro; Ballif, Christophe (2022), “Long-term Performance Analysis of Solar PV Modules Installed in Open Rack and BIPV Mounting Configurations”, EU PVSEC
  • Özkalay, Ebrar; Virtuani, Alessandro; Fairbrother, Andrew; Skoczek, Artur; Friesen, Gabi; Ballif, Christophe (2022), “How Does the Use of Satellite-Derived Insolation Data Impact the Accuracy of Performance Ratio Estimates?”, EU PVSEC