Page 67 - European Energy Innovation - Autumn 2015 publication

Autumn 2015 European Energy Innovation 67
Photo: Courtesy of Belectric OPV the world”. Malcic is confident
that if they took the plunge to
Larry Malcic, Design Principal at manufacture PV-enabled ones,
the architecture, engineering and design teams would understand
urban planning firm HOK, gave them as familiar components,
two reasons why the BIPV industry readily and relatively effortlessly
ought to work more closely with including them in their designs.
the curtain wall3 industry, no
part of which, so far as he was Neil Pennell, Head of Engineering
aware, was “doing anything with and Design at Land Securities,
PV”. Firstly, some curtain walls a company that owns, develops
are made of large, prefabricated and manages offices, shops
elements often produced in and housing in the UK, noted a
standard sizes. “Frankly, they preference among his potential
already look like PV panels, so it’s customers for glassy buildings:
a natural fit,” he said. Secondly, “They afford daylight, good
production is concentrated in views and a feeling of space”.
“half a dozen players around He identified BIPV as a way to
continue to meet this demand
while complying with ever more
stringent energy performance
regulations.
Barriers to BIPV deployment
If the potentials are so self-
evident, why have they not been
exploited? One reason could
be the unsettled question of the
relative importance of electricity
generation and aesthetic quality
in BIPV elements and another,
related to the first, is conservatism electricity generation.” Speaking
in the building industry and in the
financial community.
Aesthetic appeal
Paul Cartuyvels of the
construction company Bouygues
underlined the importance of
aesthetics: “When I talked to
the people in my company, the
first thing they said was that
BIPV has to be beautiful.” The
CEO of Issol4, Laurent Quittre
said, “The primary objective of
a company like mine is to make
1 EU PV TP: a group of researchers from industry, academia and research centres advising the European Commission on PV technology policy: www.eupvplatform.org
2 8 July 2015 – RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), London
3 Curtain walls: non-load-bearing exterior walls of buildings, sometimes known as a building’s ‘skin’
4 Issol: a “solar glass manufacturer and a project developer of active glazing solutions” - http://www.issol.eu/en/about-us
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
PHOTOVOLTAICS
very beautiful projects. Our
customers care about their image.
They want beautiful façades
and buildings. The second
thing they want is a sustainable
image – to be associated with
companies doing the right thing
for the environment. Thirdly,
the façade has to work and to
produce electricity.” But Frédéric
Bonnefoy, Product Manager
Active Glass at AGC, a large glass
manufacturer supplying many
different industries, said, “For us
aesthetics is not the main driver
of BIPV. [A few stylish buildings]
do not constitute a market.
The market will only come with
affordable, efficient and durable
solutions. Return on investment is
important.”
Conservativism
“There’s an inbuilt conservatism
in the construction industry,” said
Pennell. “BAPV has a track record
that BIPV does not yet have.
Elements that serve an aesthetic
function need to prove that they
retain their original appearance as
well as maintain a decent level of
from the perspective of the UK,
he said commercial buildings
are valued on the income stream
they will produce. “Premature
obsolescence, for example in a
component on the building, is
a risk that reduces a building’s
value.” Attitudes to PV are,
however, softening. While there
are only “a few instances” to date
of the presence of a PV system
on a building adding to the
building’s value when sold, this is
becoming more common.