www.rmit.edu.au

A Comprehensive Review on the Cost Reduction and Uptake of BIPV through the Integration of PV and

Prefabricated Building Industries

Chathuri Gunarathna, Nilmini Weerasinghe, Rebecca Yang , and Ron Wakefield

Asia-pacific Solar Research Conference Dec 4 - 6, 2018, Sydney

Presenter: Nilmini WeerasingheSchool of Property, Construction and Project ManagementRMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Content

• Introduction

• Project aim and objectives

• BIPV System cost comparison• BIPV vs. BAPV

• BIPV vs. Conventional building materials

• BIPV hardware costs

• BIPV hardware cost reduction potentials

• BIPV soft costs

• BIPV soft cost reduction potentials

• BIPV Deployment Drivers

• Conclusion and recommendations

Intr

od

uct

ion

“BIPV can be defined as a PV module and a construction product together, designed to be acomponent of the building. A BIPV product is the smallest (electrically and mechanically) non-divisible photovoltaic unit in a BIPV system which retains building-related functionality. If the BIPVproduct is dismounted, it would have to be replaced by an appropriate construction product” (IEATask 15, 2018)

Intr

od

uct

ion

• The total annual BIPV installation capacity is less than 1 MW in

Australia during the last 5 years.

• The real contribution of BIPV to PV market up until 2018 is 2.3 GW

(approximately 1%) (Osseweijer et al., 2018).

• BIPV have unique benefits in comparison to BAPV such as,

• Providing an iconic architectural design

• Executing the main functions of a building envelop material

• Improving indoor thermal comfort and reducing the building energy demands

• Providing adequate daylight illuminance with daylight-dimming capability

Intr

od

uct

ion

Reasons for slow BIPV uptake

Lack of economic confidence in the

building sector

Lack of understanding and collaboration

between the PV and building industries

Lack of BIPV specific regulations

• Limited soft cost reduction• Expensive hardware

• PV manufacturers are not involved in the building design process

• Building permit and approval• Building codes and standards

Pro

ject

Aim

& O

bje

ctiv

es Aim:

This research aims to evaluate the mechanisms driving the costreductions and deployment of prefabricated BIPV.

Objectives:

• Mapping the BIPV hardware and soft costs

• Presenting BIPV cost reduction potentials and deployment drivers in asingle platform

• Evaluating how BIPV costs have been reduced in the past and howthey can be further reduced in the future

We intend to Learn from the past to create a stable market for BIPVsystems

BIP

V S

yste

m C

ost

s1. BAPV-BIPV Comparison

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

PV referenceCase (c-si)

BIPV DerivativeCase (c-Si)

BIPV thin filmCase 1

BIPV thin Filmcase 2

USD

/W

PV Modules

Flexible packaging

BIPV Mark-up

Inverter

Instalation Materials

Labour -hardware

Labour - electrical + Module

Indirect Capital costs

Overhead and pofit

Offset Shingles

Source: James et al. (2011)

BIP

V S

yste

m C

ost

s2. BIPV- Conventional Building Materials Cost Comparison

Source: PV Sites (2016)

BIP

V H

ard

war

e C

ost

sPV Module Costs

• The rapid decline of PV module tradingprices from early 2011 to early 2015.

• The cost difference between crystallinemodules and thin film modules aresignificantly high until 2015 and afterwardsbecome insignificant.

• BIPV hardware costs are not alwayseconomical. E.g.: BIPV roof modules vs.conventional roof tiles

• BIPV can be an expensive option dependingon the building design and the aestheticrequirements.

BIP

V H

ard

war

e C

ost

s BIPV Hardware Cost Reduction Potentials

• Automated manufacturing and processoptimization

• Resource utilization• Mass production and bulk purchasing of raw

materials• Continuous research and development (R&D)• Government support• Minimise capital expenditure

PV Module Cost ReductionSource: IRNEA (2018)

Cost Reduction of Lithium-ion Batteries Source: IRNEA (2017)

BIP

V S

oft

Co

sts

A significant reduction cannot be evidenced in PV/BIPV soft costs over last few years.

BIPVSoftCostReduction

• BIPV specific design tools and software

• Having a common decentralized platform specific to BIPV designing (similar toBIM), communication and information sharing which can integrate thestakeholders

• Integrating PV and prefabricated building industries for a comprehensive planningand design process

• Decentralized information sharing platform for supply chain management (RFIDand blockchain-based supply chain management)

• Increasing market transparency

• Knowledge enhancement

• Well-trained labour and professionals

• Through supervision

• BIPV specific building codes, standards, legislation and policies

BIP

V S

oft

Co

sts

BIP

V D

eplo

ymen

t D

rive

rsSoft cost reduction

Government support and involvement

Increasing system efficiency

Introducing BIPV specific business

models

Increasing customizability and

aesthetic appearance

Increasing public awareness Most of these BIPV

deployment drivers havecurrently been executed tosome extent; nevertheless,the real contribution of BIPVto PV market has notexceeded more than 2%.

BIP

V D

eplo

ymen

t D

rive

rs Integration of PV and Prefabricated Building Industry

Prefabricated Building Industry

• A sustainable construction method which manufactures building elements/parts/modules in anoffsite manufacturing plant

• Provides a number of benefits such as reduced material wastage, high quality production, fastonsite assembly, easy dismantling and compatible reuse

• Cost reductions due to energy efficient manufacturing, limited labour usage in assembling,limited time consumption for project completion, standardized design and avoiding weatherextremes during construction

BIP

V D

eplo

ymen

t D

rive

rs Integration of PV and Prefabricated Building Industry

Source: Adapted form Hickory (2018); RIBA (2017)

?

BIP

V D

eplo

ymen

t D

rive

rs Integration of PV and Prefabricated Building Industry

PV Integrated Prefabricated Building

Industry

Co

ncl

usi

on

&

Rec

om

men

dat

ion

s

• BIPV system costs include hardware costs such as PV modules, inverters and batteries and softcosts such as design, installation, PII and O&M.

• Even though, the hardware costs experienced a significant reduction, soft costs remainunchanged/ slightly reduced.

• BIPV soft costs can be reduced mainly by ensuring effective stakeholder collaboration, introducingBIPV specific design tools and legislation.

• Soft cost reduction, government support and introducing BIPV specific business models accelerateBIPV uptake.

• Nevertheless, the contribution of BIPV to PV market has not significantly increased.

• This study recommends integrating PV and prefabricated building industries to accelerate the BIPVuptake by eliminating the lack of understanding.

• Participation of PV manufacturer in building design process• Builders partnering with PV manufacturers to deliver a specific BIPV design system• PV integrated prefabricated building construction

Ref

eren

ces

1. Hickory (2018). Corporate Capability: Overview of Hickory [online]. Available at: https://www.hickory.com.au/docs/hickory-group-capability-statement.pdf [Accessed on 10 October 2018

2. International Energy Agency (2018a).Report IEA-PVPS T15-04: 2018: International definitions of “BIPV”. IEAPVPS.

3. International Energy Agency (2018b).Report IEAPVPS T1-33:2018: Snapshot of Global Photovoltaic Markets. Available at: http://www.iea-pvps.org/fileadmin /dam/public/report/statistics/IEA-PVPS_-_A_Snapshot_of_Global _PV_-_1992-2017.pdf [Access on 17 June 2018]

4. International Renewable Energy Agency (2017).Electricity storage and renewables: Costs and markets to 2030. International Renewable Energy Agency,Abu Dhabi. Available at: http://www.irena.org/publications/2017/Oct/Electricity-storage-and-renewables-costs-and-markets [Accessed on 18September, 2018].

5. International Renewable Energy Agency (2018).Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2017.International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.Available at: http://www.irena.org/publications/2018/Jan/Renewable-power-generation-costs-in-2017 [Accessed on 20 September, 2018].

6. James, T., Goodrich, A., Woodhouse, M., Margolis, R. &Ong, S., (2011). Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) in the residential sector: an analysis ofinstalled rooftop system prices (No. NREL/TP-6A20-53103). National Renewable Energy Lab.(NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Availableat:https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53103.pdf [Accessed on 11 December 2017]

7. Osseweijer, F. J., Van Den Hurk, L. B., Teunissen, E. J., & van Sark, W. G. (2018). A comparative review of building integrated photovoltaics ecosystems inselected European countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 90, 1027-1040.

8. PV sites (2016). BIPV market and stakeholder analysis and needs. Project report. Available at: http://www.pvsites.eu/downloads/download/report-bipv-market-and-stakeholder-analysis-and-ne [accessed on 25 May 2018]

9. RIBA (2017). RIBA Plan of Work. Available at: https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/resources-landing-page/riba-plan-of-work[Accessed on 12 October, 2018].

10. Yang, R. J., & Carre, A. (2017). Design, Simulation, and Assessment of BIPV: A Student Accommodation Building in Australia. In International Conferenceon Sustainable Infrastructure 2017, 187-200.

Questions?