Energy Performance of PV Modules As Adaptive Building Shading Systems
Energy Performance of PV Modules As Adaptive Building Shading Systems
Shading systems improve building energy performance by controlling solar gains and natural lighting. Integrating
photovoltaics opens new opportunities for building integrated photovoltaics by combining the benefits of
adaptive shading with facade integrated solar tracking. Furthermore, it reduces the building energy demand and
simultaneously generates electricity onsite. This paper presents a methodology for simulating the photovoltaic
electricity production of a dynamic facade mounted PV system in combination with the energy consumption of a
building through shading. The simulation is conducted within the parametric Rhino / Grasshopper environment
using a high resolution radiation analysis for the calculation of PV electricity generation. Building energy
analysis is conducted through DIVA / EnergyPlus. From this simulation we can determine the optimum hourly
position and orientation of the PV panels, not only for optimal energy harvest, but also for the overall balance of
the room.
Keywords: Building Integrated PV (BIPV), Modelling, Tracking
1 INTRODUCTION
Building Parameters
Rhino/Grasshopper
(closed)
Figure 4: Carpet plots detailing the optimal altitude angles to minimise the (a) heating demand, (b) cooling demand, (c)
lighting demand, and (d) maximise PV electricity production. Figure (e) details the combinations for optimum building
thermal management without PV production, (f) also includes the PV production. Small angles correspond to closed
positions, whereas large angles represent open positions. The corresponding azimuth angles for each hour can be seen in the
following Figure (5).
(SE)
(S)
(SW)
Figure 5: Carpet plots detailing the optimal azimuth angles to minimise the (a) heating demand, (b) cooling demand, (c)
lighting demand, and (d) maximise PV electricity production. Figure (e) details the combinations for optimum building
thermal management without PV production, (f) also includes the PV production. Negative angles correspond to the panels
facing west, whereas positive angles represent east-facing panels. The corresponding altitude angles for each hour can be
seen in the previous Figure (4).
3.2 Net Energy Consumption 3.3 Solar Tracking vs. Optimal PV Harvest
Figure 6 shows the net energy use at the optimal Our model which optimises the photovoltaic electricity
angles described in Section 3.1. Red colours detail the harvest was compared to an optimal solar tracking model.
energy consumption intensity, and blue colours detail the Figure 7(a) shows radiation incident on the PV panels for
PV electricity supply. It is interesting to see in Figure 6(f) the two models including the effects of self shading. The
Figure 6: Carpet plots detailing the net energy consumption. Each square represents the total energy consumption for that
specific hour of the entire month. Red colours detail the energy demand, while blue colours detail the energy supply.