PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF BIPV SYSTEMS: FROM CURRENT NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK TO NEXT DEVELOPMENTS

The growing demand for the use of photovoltaic (PV) systems integrated in buildings, having the need
to be versatile, to provide design and multifunctional features more evolved than the only energy production, is
imposing a profound change in the sector of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), with major challenges to be
addressed in the coming years. Supported by an increasing technological development, by digitization and process
innovation, such systems will progressively be implemented in the construction market allowing the achievement of
the nZEB policies. BIPV products are evolving from the basic architectural integration towards multifunctional
products, aggregating essential PV requirements with additional requirements from the building skin such as thermal
insulation, solar control, fire safety, water tightness, etc.
However, to effectively enter the building market, the BIPV products will necessarily have to respect the goal of costeffectiveness
as well as the compliance with adequate quality, safety and reliability levels. In this context, the H2020
project "BIPVBOOST" is focused on obtaining a reduction in costs along the entire value chain by pursuing product
and process innovation, thus supporting the BIPV implementation in a wider mass market of the built environment. In
addition to a technological development, it is essential to solve the interconnection between PV product standards,
construction industry standards and specific rules for the installation and use in buildings. The EN 50583-1:2016 and
EN 50583-2:2016 [1] made a first step in this direction by defining the properties and the applicable regulatory
framework for PV systems modules used as construction products. Nevertheless, the current regulatory framework
collects norms created for standard PV or, on the other hand, for “non-active” building elements, so that a significant
progress regarding BIPV qualification is still needed, and it represents a current barrier for the market access. It arises
the need to identify new “multi-disciplinary” reference requirements, to improve the definition of the performance
levels and to develop new test methodologies better suited to the use of PV in the building skin. Therefore, these issues
will be addressed within the project by identifying the gaps in the current standards and by implementing a performancebased
approach for the qualification of BIPV products. The paper, summarizing the first investigations of the project,
will provide an overview on the current normative framework, reporting the main missing gaps and a roadmap to define
new reference procedures for BIPV products qualification, setting the basic ground for next developments in the coming
years.