Status of BIPV and BAPV System for Less Energy-Hungry Building in India—A Review

The photovoltaic (PV) system is one of the most promising technologies that generate benevolent electricity. Therefore, fossil fuel-generated electric power plants, that emit an enormous amount of greenhouse gases, can be replaced by the PV power plant. However, due to its lower efficiency than a traditional power plant, and to generate equal amount of power, a large land area is required for the PV power plant. Also, transmission and distribution losses are intricate issues for PV power plants. Therefore, the inclusion of PV into a building is one of the holistic approaches which reduce the necessity for such large land areas. Building-integrated and building attached/applied are the two types where PV can be included in the building. Building applied/attached PV(BAPV) indicates that the PV system is added/attached or applied to a building, whereas, building integrated PV (BIPV) illustrates the concept of replacing the traditional building envelop, such as window, wall, roof by PV. In India, applying PV on a building is growing due to India’s solar mission target for 2022. In 2015, through Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, India targeted to achieve 100 GW PV power of which 40 GW will be acquired from roof-integrated PV by 2022. By the end of December 2019, India achieved 33.7 GW total installed PV power. Also, green/zero energy/and sustainable buildings are gaining significance in India due to rapid urbanization. However, BIPV system is rarely used in India which is likely due to a lack of government support and public awareness. This work reviewed the status of BIPV/BAPV system in India. The BIPV window system can probably be the suitable BIPV product for Indian context to reduce the building’s HVAC load.