An overview on building-integrated photovoltaics: Technological solutions, modeling, and control

The advancement of renewable and sustainable energy generation technologies has been driven by environment-related issues, energy independence, and high costs of fossil fuels. Building-integrated photovoltaic systems have been demonstrated to be a viable technology for the generation of renewable power, with the potential to assist buildings in meeting their energy demands. This work reviews the current status of novel PV technologies, including bifacial solar cells and semi-transparent solar cells. This review discusses the various constructions of PV technologies, recent advances in these products, the influence of key design factors on electrical and thermal performance, and their potential in the design of energy-efficient smart buildings. The attention is focused on bifacial and semi-transparent PV systems, given the high level of interest of the scientific community in their current and potential applications. Focus is also devoted to the analysis of the electrical, optical, and thermal modeling procedures developed for sizing, designing and integrating photovoltaics into larger building simulations. The development of these models has a positive impact on the implementation of next-generation smart buildings. The latest innovative developments and key issues in the application of bifacial PV solutions in buildings are also summarized and analyzed. Special attention is paid to rear side electrical performance, which can be evaluated by means of illuminance/optical backside modeling. Finally, energy management and control of PV-equipped buildings via both model-based and data-driven approaches are discussed, as well as the integration of electric storage systems in a multi-building context.