Investigating the Effect of Roof Configurations on the Performance of BIPV System

Abstract Adopting renewable energy production systems is a promising technology in sustainable building design to reduce the increasing global energy demand and CO2 emissions. On the other hand, heat losses through building envelope account for more than half of the total heat losses in a building. An integrative technology, coupling airtight building envelopes with renewable energy technologies is a shift towards near net-zero energy buildings (NZEB). In this feasibility study, the performance of building- integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system installed on cold and warm roof configurations of a low-rise residential building, with high efficiency insulation has been investigated using TRNSYS. The associated energy performance and efficiency of BIPV system has been examined. Simulated data indicated that the cold roof improved efficiency of BIPV system, throughout the year.