BIPV could aid in solar's greater mkt penetration

MILAN, ITALY & FRAMINGHAM, USA: Energy Insights recently released a new report, which explores recent technology and commercial developments in the building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) sector that could aid in solar energy's greater market penetration.

This study also includes a profile for eight BIPV developers/manufacturers to highlight their next-generation product offerings and project deployments.

According to Nadav Enbar, senior research analyst, Energy Insights, "Downstream building materials suppliers, builders, and even utilities are currently investing in BIPV businesses, lending credence to the sector's rosy prospects."

"Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) represent a potential game-changing technology and deployment approach capable of achieving PV cost parity vis-a -vis conventional energy resources," adds Roberta Bigliani, EMEA Research Director with Energy Insights.

Comprised of solar modules embedded into varying facets of the building envelope, BIPV is able to functionally satisfy conventional building applications while simultaneously generating power.

Though currently hampered by prices higher than standard flat-plate photovoltaics, BIPV systems are gradually gaining visibility as European, Asian, and North American manufacturers develop and deploy next-generation products. The result: an increasing number of demonstration and commercial projects that are exploiting BIPV's multifunctional, aesthetically-pleasing characteristics.

Energy Insights believes that additional BIPV product functionality and, in turn, commercial deployment, will broaden in the next decade given the following core factors:

* Thin-film PV development: Flexible, lower-cost thin-film feedstocks are powering a growing variety of modules and laminates that are able to cover more of a building's envelope.

* Increasing industry collaboration. Manufacturers, installers, architects, and even utilities are more actively, if gradually, collaborating to provide better-designed products and support for commercial applications.

* Improving economics: Though still heavily dependent on incentives, increased sales to residential homebuilders and utility buy-down programs are triggering BIPV system cost reductions. Novel financing arrangements are also being explored, which could lead to accelerated adoption.

* BIPV prospects: Energy Insights is optimistic about the prospects of BIPV over the next decade and beyond. Though the technology is currently hindered by high prices and a still largely inchoate sales and distribution network, a growing number of government mandates and incentives are stimulating solar markets and investments, which are leading to an improving cost competitiveness of conventional photovoltaics, and by extension, BIPV.

Furthermore, Energy Insights expects a forthcoming period of solar industry consolidation, in which companies vertically integrate upstream and downstream services, to accelerate cost reductions and foster greater technical innovation.

As solar power approaches grid parity, BIPV's aesthetic, multi-functional market differentiating attributes will be well-positioned to gain the technology greater mainstream acceptance.