The effect of local climatic conditions on the building integration of photovoltaics

Abstract The current work reports on the effect of local climatic conditions on electricity generation of typical building integrated photovoltaic systems (BIPVs). Three different climates of a) semi-continental with increased heating needs, b) Mediterranean with moderate heating and cooling needs and c) hot desert with high cooling needs are considered for BIPV systems. The evaluation of the BIPV electricity generation was done through validated TRNSYS simulations. The findings show that local climatic conditions influence the BIPV electricity generation due mainly to the temperature effect and the different interaction of the solar radiation components with the PV building integration.