Project overview
  • Lead Organisation

    Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

    Location

    Melbourne, Victoria

    ARENA Program

    Commercialisation of R&D Funding Initiative Pilot

  • Start date

    5 December 2019

    End date

    30 June 2022

  • Project Partners
    City of Greater Bendigo, International Energy Agency PV Power System (IEA PVPS) Task 15 BIPV, Energus, International Building Performance Simulation Association, Smart Energy Council, Australian PV Institute, Aurecon, Norman Disney & Young
    This renewables project was completed on 30 June 2022.

Summary

The Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Enabler project will develop a user friendly platform that integrates product, regulation, technical, economic and construction data to create a leading Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) solution.

Key results

  • The Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Enabler project developed a design tool to optimise BIPV design in the conceptual design stage.
  • The BIPV Enabler tool contains a product database with 136 important product attributes in 13 categories (e.g., cost, module information, integration method, maintenance, warranty)
  • Platform users complete six steps (e.g., building type and location, building modelling and simulation, product selection, placement etc.) to enable BIPV products and studies to be applied in the real building market as easily as possible.
  • The tool is free to use from June 2022 to June 2023 for feedback. From June 2023, the tool will be fully commercialised.

This project consists of:

Project Knowledge
Contact
  • Name: Simon Liddle
  • Phone: +61 (03) 9925 4428
Last updated
07 September 2022

Learn more

Image - High rise buildings

Report: Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Enabler Final

This report shares information and lessons learnt from the Building Integrated PV Enabler Project.

Need

Building integrated photovoltaics are solar power modules that are built into a structure in place of standard building materials.

BIPV adoption has been slow in Australia due to restrictive building and construction standards, as well as the complexities in informing and educating a broad-based industry (design, to construction and operation stages) about product availability, standards and cost-effective solutions.

However, building a case for widespread adoption of BIPV is also difficult without easily accessible information and availability of value-for-money solutions.

Action

This project will develop a product database that includes standard guidelines and user-friendly interfaces to help facilitate the decision to use BIPV at the conceptual building design stage.

The platform will provide a tool that complies with construction codes, design, installation and maintenance options and configures easy-to-use interfaces for different stakeholders.

This one-stop solution aims to deliver value for a range of users including PV manufacturers (to aid product promotion) building professionals (to assist with BIPV design) as well as construction and facility management professionals.

Outcome

This project will provide the facility required to move BIPV from Commercial Readiness Index (CRI) 2 to (CRI) 3 in Australia and should accelerate market adoption of BIPV that unifies precast PV modules with the overall building outer surface, including every wall and window in both residential and commercial buildings.

The project will enable all BIPV products and studies to be applied in the real building market as easily as possible.

Additional impact

Industry workshops will be organised in capital cities for the participants from the building and PV sectors to run through the entire BIPV design process and discuss the scope for future investment.

The platform will also be exhibited in industry conferences and exhibitions.

Read more about renewables in buildings.

Last updated 07 September 2022
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