ANNOUNCEMENTS
As per the Nationally Determined Contributions, India has committed to reaching 500 GW of Renewable Energy by 2030. With the current pace of Solar PV development, it would not be possible to meet the 500 GW target. Due to land availability becoming an important factor for Solar PV installation, the focus must be shifted towards new and innovative Solar PV applications requiring minimal land for installation. These include Agri PV, Building Integrated PV, Canal Top PV, Floating Solar PV, Road Integrated PV, Rail Integrated PV, and Urban PV.
Building Integrated PV is an innovative solution to integrate renewable energy into buildings and help in mitigating the high energy consumption from the grid. Although the concept of BIPV was present since the 1980s, there hasn’t been much uptake or research undertaken for India. Due to BIPV not being suitable for residential buildings and rooftops of high-rise commercial buildings, an analysis has been conducted on vertical integrated BIPV on building facades in the urban Indian context. A base model of a commercial building has been simulated in EnergyPlus and Design Builder to evaluate the effect of energy generation, thermal performance, and techno-economic feasibility. It was observed that a south orientation will provide the maximum CUF of 11% for BIPV. A lower range of the thermal properties of the modules will lead to lower heat gain inside the building from the BIPV system. The payback period and IRR was evaluated for five metro cities in India: Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. It was observed that BIPV will be feasible in these cities due to the high commercial tariff leading to an average payback period of 5-7 years. Stakeholder discussions were also conducted and analyzed to understand the barriers and challenges in the Indian BIPV sector and to devise strategies, programs, and incentives to enable the uptake of this technology.
