What Is BIPV That Generates Solar Power Without Solar Panels?

What Is BIPV That Generates Solar Power Without Solar Panels? Photo: Pexels

Building-integrated photovoltaics, also known as BIPV, is the required material that takes the panel off the roof and, puts it inside the roof itself. According to Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), an office of the US Department of Energy, BIPV is a set of emerging solar energy applications that replace usual building materials with solar generating materials in various parts of a structure, like the roof, skylights, balustrades, awnings, facades, or windows.

Solar panels have been a conventional form for generating solar power, especially, when it comes to the off-grid solar power generation. These panels can easily be installed on the rooftops of the houses or in an open space having access to ample amount of sunlight. But as the technology is evolving, solar power can also be generated without installing solar panels at rooftops but integrating them in the rooftop and several other building components.

BIPV works on the phenomenon of Dual-Use Photovoltaic Technology where the PV panels serve an additional function besides the generation of electricity. The most commonly recognised type of BIPV is carports and parking shade structures. BIPV serves as the outer layer of a building, and it generates electricity for on-site use or exports it to the grid.

Apart from throwing light on BIPV, EERE has also delved about VIPV — Vehicle Integrated Photovoltaics — in which solar cells are mechanically and electrically added into the design of a vehicle.These PV panes integrated into the outer parts of a vehicle then help to supply power to various functions and batteries of the vehicle along with functioning as the roof, door or fender of the vehicle be it a car, bus, train compartment, lorry or a truck.

Further, a study conducted by US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that retrofitting installations of roof-integrated photovoltaics takes 7 percent less labour time than standard solar installations decreasing the installation time by 44% when it comes to new construction projects.