Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Energy analysis of an improved concept of integrated PV panels in an office

building in central Greece
Olympia Zogou, Herricos Stapountzis ⇑
University of Thessaly, Mechanical Engineering Department, Volos, Greece

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: During the last decade, steel constructions with glazed façades became popular for commercial buildings
Received 17 January 2010 in Greece. Moreover, expensive metal, natural stone, marble, ceramic, granite as well as special glass is
Received in revised form 21 August 2010 employed for aesthetic and energy efficiency reasons. This creates opportunities for the introduction of
Accepted 23 August 2010
Photovoltaic (PV) modules in double façades. PV modules on south-facing building walls are better placed
Available online 21 September 2010
at a distance from the wall to allow heat rejection and avoid overheating and efficiency loss. Exploiting
the rejected heat of the PV modules is also a challenge. In this paper, we examine an improved concept of
Keywords:
incorporating PV modules to the south façades of an office building, exploiting both the electricity pro-
Building energy simulation
Optimization
duced and the heat rejected by the module, to increase building energy efficiency. The PV modules are
Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) integrated to the building wall by means of a double façade, which employs intervening ducts for venti-
PV/T collectors lation purposes. The ducts are heating outdoor air, which is employed to cover the ventilation needs of
HVAC the building, as well as a part of the heating loads. Simulations for typical winter and summer weather
Cavity flow and solar insolation conditions are carried out to investigate the building’s energy performance
improvements.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction adapts these methodologies and requirements on a country or

The residential, commercial and industrial building sectors are
responsible for more than 40% of the EU final energy consumption.
Buildings produce more than 30% of CO2 emissions in the EU [1,2],
where, according to recent studies, space heating energy consump-
tion in residential buildings accounts for 57%, and water heating
for 25% of the total energy consumed. The conclusion from special-
ized studies as well as real world experience, indicates that a great
energy efficiency improvement capacity exists in the above sectors
[3]. A significant step in this context was the adoption of the Direc-
tive 2002/91/TC [2], promoting improvement of the energy perfor-
mance of buildings within the EU, taking into account outdoor
climatic and local conditions (including solar radiation), as well
as indoor climate requirements and cost-effectiveness. This Direc-
tive established a general framework of a common methodology
for calculating the integrated energy performance of buildings [4]
and laid down the requirements of minimum standards on the en-
ergy performance to new buildings and to renovated existing
buildings. A general methodology for the calculation of building
energy and cooling energy consumption was agreed in the form
of the EN ISO 13790:2008 standard [5]. Each European country
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 24210 74003; fax: +30 24210 74052.
E-mail address: erikos@mie.uth.gr (H. Stapountzis).
regional basis. According to oncoming legislation, Greece is divided
into four climatic zones. Each zone is subject to specific require-
ments for U-value (Table 1) and the energy consumption shall
not exceed reference consumption according with the usage of
the building.
The yearly energy consumption is expressed in primary energy
kW h/m2 y and includes energy consumption for lighting and
domestic hot water. The positive influence of active solar systems
and other heating and electricity systems based on renewable en-
ergy sources are also taken into account. Photovoltaic modules are
an important category of active solar energy systems that gain
increasing share in today’s energy production palette. Rooftop
installation is the most common mode of PV application in build-
ings, but not the only one possible. Installation in south façades
is also a possibility. In that case, the use of a double façade is an
attractive option. A literature search reveals a number of papers
studying, experimentally or computationally, the heat transfer in
double façades in buildings [6–15]. However, each paper focuses
on a specific configuration that may be related to an existing build-
ing façade concept, including PV façades. Yun [6] studied the effect
of a number of parameters (i.e. climate, room depth, lighting loads,
U-value, glazing device) on the overall energy performance of a
ventilated PV façade, trying to optimize the ratio of transparent
window area to the opaque PV modules’ area. Mei et al. [7] studied
the thermal performance of a specific type of ventilated PV façade,

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.08.023
854 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866

Nomenclature

A heat transfer area (m2) Greek symbols

cp heat capacity (kJ/kg K) a thermal diffusivity (m2/s)
d the depth between the plates defining the flow (m) asl the slope of the duct (vertical = 90o)
Dh hydraulic diameter (m) b volumetric coefficient of expansion (T1)
g gravity acceleration (m2/s) Dp pressure drop, pressure head (Pa)
g-Value solar gain factor at 0° incidence angle k thermal conductivity of glass (W/m K)
h heat transfer coefficient, air-to-channel wall (W/m2 K) l viscosity (Pa s)
H height of channel (m) m kinematic viscosity (m2/s)
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) e1 infrared (long wave) emissivity of glazing layer
m_ mass flow rate (kg/s) sir infrared (long wave) transmissivity of glazing layer
Nu Nusselt number of the fluid in the channel ssol solar transmissivity of the glazing layer
Pr Prandtl number for the fluid in the duct svis visible transmittance of the glazing layer
Q heat flow rate (W)
Ra Rayleigh number of the fluid in the channel Subscripts
Re 4m
Re ¼ pl _ air air flowing in the duct
Dh Reynolds number (channel)
a ambient
Rsol solar reflectivity of the glazing layer
Rvis visible spectrum reflectance of the glazing layer Abbreviations
T temperature (K) BIPVT building integrated photovoltaic/thermal
TMY typical meteorological year CEN Comité Européen de Normalization
U heat transfer coefficient EN European Norm
U Heat transmission coefficient – central window area PV photovoltaic
(W/m2 K) NOCT normal operating cell temperature
U heat transmission coefficient – including frame (W/ STC standard operating conditions
m2 K)

Solanki et al. [17] report on the design, fabrication and perfor-

Table 1 mance assessment of a PV/T solar air heater. A simplified 1-D ther-
U-value for the four climatic zones. mal model of the device was developed, based on the energy
balance equations. The test method developed is proposed as a
Floor Roof Wall Window
UF UR UW UWin standard indoor test procedure for thermal and electrical testing
(W m2 K1) (W m2 K1) (W m2 K1) (W m2 K1) of PV/T collectors connected in series. Typical electrical efficiency
A climatic zone 62.0 60.5 60.7 63.8 figures of the order of 10% and thermal efficiency of the order of
D climatic zone 61.5 60.5 60.6 63.2 35% are reported for the specific design of PV/T collector for various
C climatic zone 60.7 60.4 60.5 62.8 climatic conditions. Sarhaddi et al. [18] developed an analytical
D climatic zone 60.5 60.35 60.4 62.8 model to investigate the thermal and electrical performance of a
solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector. Some corrections
are done on heat loss coefficients in order to improve the thermal
consisting of the PV panel, the air gap and the inner double glazing. model. The electrical model can estimate open-circuit voltage,
Fux [10] investigated in his thesis the convective heat transfer rate short-circuit current, maximum power point voltage, and maxi-
between both internal sides of a double façade system. The main mum power point current. The results of numerical simulation
objective of his work was to improve the cavity heat transfer cor- are in agreement with the outdoor test results of Joshi et al. [19].
relations to be inserted in the building energy simulation software The first application of TRNSYS in modeling PV/T systems was pub-
employed in the design. Manz [13,14] investigated heat transfer by lished by Kalogirou [20], dealing with the modeling and simulation
natural convection of air layers within vertical, rectangular cavities of a hybrid PV/T system consisting of a normal PV panel at the back
with a prescribed aspect ratio. The study focused on tall, vertical of which a heat exchanger is embedded which employs water as a
cavities in building elements such as insulating glazing units, dou- cooling medium. The hybrid system is estimated to increase the
ble skin façades, doors, façade-integrated solar collectors and mean annual efficiency of the PV solar system from 2.8% to 7.7%
transparent insulation panels. Using as a starting point the results and in addition covers 49% of the hot water needs of a house situ-
of previous studies that date back to the fifties [16], he performed ated in Nicosia, Cyprus, thus increasing the mean annual efficiency
CFD computations with a revised k  e turbulence model for cavi- of the system to 31.7%. Kostic et al. [21] tested outdoor perfor-
ties with aspect ratios (height/depth) of 20, 40 and 80, and Ray- mance of a PV/T water collector boosted by sideways flat solar
leigh numbers between 1000 and 106. His results compare well radiation reflectors, in characteristic days of the year in Nis, with
with previous experimental and theoretical results in the laminar optimal slope of the collector. The position of reflectors has been
and turbulent flow regimes. Except for one calculation, no calcu- changed and optimal position of reflectors has been determined
lated Nusselt number deviates more than 20% from the empirical by both experiments and calculations. Gaur and Tiwari [22] report
correlations. Deviation is even less than 10% for an aspect ratio of on the optimization of the number of collectors for a PV/T hybrid
20. This study improved the starting position for future applica- active solar still, with experimental validation. Energy and exer-
tions of the code to more complex cases of façade elements, where gy-based optimization has been carried out, with different quanti-
less or even no experimental data are available in literature. Fossa ties of water in the basin. Expressions of inner glass, outer glass
et al. [15] investigated experimentally the effect of the geometrical and water temperature have been derived for the hybrid active so-
configuration of heat sources on the heat transfer with natural con- lar system. Validation of the model has been accomplished for a
vection in an open channel. typical day using data for New Delhi. It was found that an increase
 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866
of water mass in the basin increased the optimum number of col-
lectors and that the maximum yield occurs with 4 PV/T collectors
in series for 50 kg of water. Agrawal and Tiwari [23] report on the
installation of a building integrated photovoltaic thermal (BIPVT)
system as the rooftop of a building to generate higher electrical en-
ergy per unit area and to produce thermal energy for space heating.
A one-dimensional transient model was developed and applied to
their analysis in order to select an appropriate BIPVT system suit-
able for the cold climatic conditions of India. The PV performance,
net energy gain and exergy of the building were determined. Series
connection and constant mass flow rate resulted in better perfor-
mance compared to parallel connection with constant air velocity.
The glazed BIPVT system, fitted with optimal slope on the rooftop
with an effective area of 65 m2, was capable of annually producing
a net electrical exergy of 16 MW h and a net thermal energy of
1.5 MW h.
From the above survey it becomes apparent that although
numerous investigations appeared in the literature regarding PV/
T collectors during the recent years, there is room for additional re-
search work, e.g. examining both computationally and experimen-
tally, the effect of different design concepts and layouts, in
different climatic conditions. Especially important is to study the
integrated performance of the PV/T channels embodied in the
building’s envelope, in the frame of building energy simulation
studies. This is the subject of the present paper, which describes
an improved BIPVT concept, assesses its yearly energy perfor-
mance and concludes with certain design optimization directions.
2. A concept for the installation of the PV modules
In Greece, the residential and non residential buildings are tra-
ditionally concrete constructions. During the last decades, metal
constructions with glazed façades have become popular especially
for commercial buildings. Moreover, expensive metal, natural
stone, marble, ceramic and granite as well as special glass is
increasingly popular for aesthetic and energy efficiency reasons.
The most expensive claddings cost around 1000 €/m2, which is
comparable to the cost of high efficiency PV modules. PV modules
in buildings are usually placed on the roof and sometimes also on
south-facing building walls. They are providing electrical energy to
cover a part of the building’s needs. The roof-top modules are
placed at a distance from the roof to allow rejection of the ab-
sorbed solar radiation that is not transformed to electricity. During
Fig. 1. South elevation of a building with integrated PV panels (to be employed in
the simulations).
855
the last decade, the idea of additionally exploiting the rejected heat
of the photovoltaic modules is gaining attention [24]. In this paper,
we investigate the feasibility of incorporating PV modules in the
south façade of an office building (see for example a South eleva-
tion view of the building in Fig. 1 and a schematic N–S section of
the building in Fig. 2) to exploit both the electricity produced
and heat rejected by the module in increasing the building’s energy
efficiency.
In the example building concept of Fig. 1, several bands of six
modules each are vertically placed at a 0.15 m distance from the
long south-facing wall. Each band creates a duct behind it, with
dimensions of 9 m  0.15 m  1 m (aspect ratio H/d = 9/0.15 = 60).
Each duct is employed to supply ventilation air to a number of near-
by office compartments of the building (Fig. 2). Small fans are em-
ployed to supply the air to the spaces. The air is heated as it passes
by the backside of the PV modules. The upward flow produced by
the buoyancy effects, can easily satisfy the cooling of the PV panels.
On the other hand, the flowrate is more than adequate for the ven-
tilation needs of the nearby spaces of the building. Sizing and con-
trol of the proposed system to satisfy both purposes is essential to
its economic viability as will be demonstrated below.
A detailed computation of the transient thermal behavior of the
building on an hourly basis is required to support system’s design.
Such a computation can be supported by one of the in-use certified
building energy simulation programs, such as TRNSYS, DOE-2 or
ENERGYPLUS [25]. The hour-by-hour computation allows for suffi-
cient accuracy in the calculation of solar gains that contribute sig-
nificantly to the energy consumption for cooling, and also affect
heating energy consumption. Moreover, the hourly base calcula-
tion is required for the study of the performance of the PV modules
integrated on the south façade of the building and the thermal and
flow behavior of the associated air duct, which deserves to be stud-
ied in detail based on the discussion of the next section.
3. Modeling heat transfer in the PV cooling duct
For our specific building integration concept, the configuration
schematically presented in Fig. 3 is of interest [26]. A wide rectan-
gular duct is formed between the backside of the PV modules and
the external wall of the building behind them. The duct is closed
also in its narrow sides, thus allowing the transport of air in the
duct by the combined effect of buoyancy, fans and regulated damp-
ers. As the air is moving upwards, its temperature is raised by its
thermal interaction with the backside of the PV modules.
In the case of unobstructed buoyancy flow, a part of the solar
radiation heat absorbed by the PV module is transferred by natural
convection to the air in the duct behind the module and the heated
air flows upwards. If the building wall forming the opposite part of
the duct is at a lower temperature than the air in the duct, then a
part of the heat flow is directed towards the building interior. If we
ignore the less important phenomena (conduction to building wall,
radiative exchange with the building shell), the system’s perfor-
mance is governed
(i) by the kinetic relation for the convection heat transfer to the
duct air:
Q_ ¼ h  A  ðT w  T air Þ ð1Þ
where h is the convection heat transfer coefficient from the
duct wall to air, Tw the temperature of heated surface and A
the heat transfer area and
(i) by the energy balance of the duct flow:
Q_ ¼ m
_  cp  ðT out  T in Þ ð2Þ
856 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866

Fig. 2. Principle of operation of PV cooling duct – interfacing with HVAC system (N–S section view).

[28]. The energy balance relies on algorithms supplied by the clas-

sic book of Duffie and Beckman [29].
The energy balance of the specific BIPVT concept is presented in
d Fig. 4.
For the fluid convection correlations we have three special
b

Tout
cases:

(iii) No flow through the channel Re = 0 and the Nusselt number

is based on free convection on the relationship of Hollands et
Building side

al. [30].
! 
H

Q
PV side

1:6
1708ðsin ð1:8asl ÞÞ 1708
Brick Nu ¼ 1 þ 1044 1  1
Ra cosðasl Þ Ra cosðcossl Þ
 13 !
Plaster Ra cosðasl Þ
þ 1 ð4Þ
5830

Polystyrol insulation where

Air flow, Tin
gbðT w  T air Þd3
Fig. 3. Heat transfer in the rectangular duct behind the PV modules. Ra ¼ ð5Þ
va
(iii) The air flow through the channel is laminar (Reynolds num-
In the natural convection case, the air flow rate is determined ber < 2300). Then a constant surface temperature heat trans-
by the static pressure head from the buoyancy effect: fer correlation is utilized: Nu = 3.66.
(iii) The air flow through the channel is turbulent. (Reynolds
Dp ¼ H  g  ðqair  qa Þ ð3Þ number > 2300) then the Dittus-Boelter heat transfer corre-
lation is utilized:
where Dp is the buoyancy pressure head in the channel (Pa) (qair
the mean density of air in the duct, qa the ambient air density Nu ¼ 0:023  Re0:8  Prn ð6Þ
(kg/m3)), along with the friction pressure drop due to the buoyancy
flow. For typical values of the exit air temperature, the static pres- with n = 0.4 whenever the plate is warmer than the fluid and
sure head is of the order of 5–10 Pa and the resulting buoyancy flow n = 0.3 when the plate is cooler than the fluid. Then the fluid
rates for the specific cross section of the duct range between 0.2 and convection coefficient h can be calculated:
0.5 m3/s [27]. The convection coefficient may be estimated by a typ-
Nu  k
ical Nu(Gr, Pr) relationship [26]. Of course, the real world situation h¼ ð7Þ
Dh
in the duct is significantly more complex, due to the important role
of radiation. The above-mentioned submodel was modified in order to better
A submodel for the behavior of an integrated PV façade already describe the performance of the specific building components
exists in the TRNSYS environment. It has been developed by TESS studied in this paper.
 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866 857

Fig. 4. Energy balance components on the PV module.

Table 2
Simulation cases.

Reference Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

case
Building Building with PV panels in contact with the Building with PV panels in the south walls: double Building with PV panels in south walls: double
without south-facing walls (above the ground floor) façade with 0.15 m air gap: air flowrate 400 kg/h façade, with 0.15 m air gap: air flowrate 133 kg/h
PV panels

The model is applied to the simulation of the behavior of the PV

Table 3
façade in the typical office building of Fig. 1, for the following alter-
The basic technical data for the PV modules (Kyocera KD 205GH).
native cases (see Table 2):
Dimensions
L  W  D = 990  1500  150 (mm)
 A reference case (building without a PV façade).
Electrical performance
 Case 1: Building with PV panels in the south façade (above the At 1000 W/m2 (STC) Unit
ground floor), but without an air gap between PV panels and Maximum power (W) 205
wall: the PV panels are in contact with the outside of the build- At 800 W/m2 (NOCT)
ing wall. Maximum power (W) 145
NOCT (°C) 49
 Case 2: Building with PV panels and a double façade with Temperature coefficient of Voc (V/°C) 1.20  101
0.15 m air gap between PV panels and wall: the heated air Temperature coefficient of Isc (A/°C) 5.02  103
allowed to flow at a rate of 400 kg/h. Temperature coefficient of max power (W/°C) 9.43  101
 Case 3: Building with PV panels and a double façade with Reduction of efficiency (from 1000 W/m2 (%) 6
to 200 W/m2)
0.15 m air gap, where the heated air in the gap is limited to
PV cells
133 kg/h. Number per module 54
Cell technology Multicrystalline
Cell shape 156  156 (mm)
4. Details of the building energy simulation

Office buildings in Greece usually consist of a basement and

three or four floors (including the ground floor). A typical building
of this type, (see Fig. 1) will be studied here. Eight vertical bands of
PV modules with the characteristics of Table 3 are installed on the
south façade of the building, that is, a total of 48 PV modules with
an area of about 72 m2 and a total rated power of 9.84 kW. An air
flow rate of 110 m3/h (133 kg/h) in the duct behind the modules is
adequate to cover the ventilation needs. It needs to be tested if this
flowrate is sufficient for adequate cooling of the PV panels. For this
reason, an increased air flow of 330 m3/h (400 kg/h) is also com-
paratively assessed.
The reference building is located in Volos, Greece (latitude
39.390N, longitude 22.940E). The TMY employed in this study
has been approximated based on the methodology presented in
[31]. The monthly meteorological data of the Greek National Mete-
orological Agency pertaining to the city of Volos for the period
1956–1988, as well as the period 1996–2006 are presented in
Fig. 5.
The office building consists of a basement, ground level and
three upper levels (floor area 162.75 m2). Its rectangular shape is
elongated along the E-W axis. Each level consists of seven zones,
in order to better study the effect of orientation. For example,
the first floor (see Fig. 6) involves Zone_1.1, Zone_1.2, Zone_1.3,
Zone_1.4, Zone_1.5, Zone_1.6 and Zone_1.7. The first number
indicates the floor and the second the zone. Zone_1.7 consists of
four offices and the reception room. Each floor has 10 offices
(12.25 m2 each) and one reception room (40.25 m2). The character-
858 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866

Fig. 5. Characteristics of climatic conditions in the city of Volos.

Table 4
Insulation data for the building envelope.

Building shell Total U- Layers Layer

component thick- value thickness
ness (m) (W/m2 K)
Floor, basement 0.325 0.692 Ceramic tiles 0.005
Plaster 0.020
Reinforced concrete B240 0.250
Polystyrol insulation 0.050
Floor, office 0.295 2.916 Ceramic tiles 0.005
space Plaster 0.020
Reinforced concrete B240 0.250
Plaster 0.020
Walls, outside 0.290 0.497 Plaster 0.020
building shell Brick 0.090
Polystyrol insulation 0.070
Brick 0.090
Plaster 0.020
Walls, behind PV 0.370 0.363 Plaster 0.020
panels Brick 0.250
Polystyrol insulation 0.100
Walls, inside 0.130 3.058 Plaster 0.020
Brick 0.090
Plaster 0.020
Roof 0.390 0.406 Plaster 0.020
Fig. 6. Typical (1st) floor layout of the building employed in the simulation.
Reinforced concrete B240 0.250
Polystyrol insulation 0.050
Plaster 0.020
Deck tiles 0.050
istics of the building shell and windows are summarized in Tables Frame, inside 0.290 2.952 Plaster 0.020
4 and 5. The building materials and insulation thickness are as- beams Reinforced concrete B240 0.250
sumed to follow the current Greek building standards and common Plaster 0.020
practice. However, the wall behind the PV modules in the double Frame, inside 0.24 3.182 Plaster 0.020
façade is very well insulated with 10 cm polystyrol panel, in order walls Reinforced concrete B240 0.200
Plaster 0.020
to protect the interior of the building from overheating during the
summer. Frame, outside 0.315 0.500 Plaster 0.020
Reinforced concrete B240 0.200
The following building operation schedule was assumed: Daily
Polystyrol insulation 0.075
schedule 07:00–17:00 (Monday–Friday). The room thermostat Plaster 0.020
controls zone temperature to 21 °C with a tolerance of ±1 °C for
Doors, inside 0.05 1.808 Processed wood chips 0.050
winter season and to 26 °C (tolerance of ±1 °C) for summer season.
 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866 859

Table 5 5. Simulation results and discussion

Characteristics of window (including aluminum frame).

Window type Common double air 5.1. Transient behavior of the air in the duct and PV efficiency
Glazing system SOLAR E 4.LOF, 6 mm Air, Clear_4.LOF
U 2.532
Comparative results of the hourly simulation of the reference
U 3.850
g-Value 0.477 case along with cases 1–3 are presented in Figs. 8–10.
ssol 0.380 Fig. 8 presents a comparison of the predicted backside panel
Rsol 0.092 temperature in the highest section of the duct, that is, behind the
top PV module (3rd floor), for the four cases (Refs. [1–3]), during
a typical week of the heating season. The predicted electricity gen-
eration from the PV panels with the limited cooling air flowrate
Energy consumption for lighting is estimated at 15 W/m2 plus (case 3) is also presented in the same figure. It may be observed
5 kW h/(m2 y) for parasitic control in accordance with PrEN in this figure that the PV backside temperature is lowest in case
15193 [32]. Each office room (Zones 1–6) is equipped with one per- 2, where the flowrate is maximized. That is, case 2 is expected to
sonal computer and one printer and Zone 7 (reception room) is result in the highest PV efficiency. However, since the duct system
equipped with seven computers and two printers respectively with is also exploited to cover the space ventilation and part of the heat-
occupant density in accordance with prEN 13779 [33]. As regards ing loads, case 3 is optimized for this objective. In the following, we
the ventilation, 0.84 Air Changes per Hour (ACH) are assumed, a examine if the case 3 design is a good compromise between these
figure which surpasses the requirements of prEN 15251 [34] which two design objectives.
correspond to 0.7 l/s m2. A close inspection of Fig. 8 indicates that with case 2 the back-
A flowchart summarizing the simulation model in the TRNSYS, side of the highest PV panel has a maximum temperature reduc-
release 16 environment is presented in Fig. 7. The way of interac- tion of 13 °C over case 1 (not cooled PV panels). If we inspect the
tion of the submodel for the heat transfer in the duct behind the respective results for the rest of the year, we observe a maximum
modules discussed in the previous section is also shown in this temperature reduction of 19 °C [35].
figure. Obviously, the cooling effect is more enhanced for the lower PV
The effect of installing PV panels to the south-facing wall of the panels, as they are cooled by colder air. A yearly maximum of 20 °C
building is studied by performing simulations for the reference in the temperature reduction of the lowest panels is observed over
case and for three alternative building integrated photovoltaic con- case 1. For comparison, the respective temperature reductions at-
figurations that are summarized in Table 2. tained with the compromised case 3 over case 1, are about 50%
The transient behavior of the following system’s performance lower for the highest PV panels (see for example Fig. 8). This is
variables are of interest in these simulations: the penalty we must pay for the limiting of the PV cooling air flow-
rate that is necessary to cover the HVAC system needs.
 Typical zone temperature. Fig. 9 presents a comparison of the predicted zone temperatures
 Instantaneous zone heating and cooling loads. with cases 1–3, against the reference case, during the same (cold-
 Backside temperature of modules. est) week of winter (5 °C lowest ambient temperature).
 Electricity produced by the modules. When PV panels are installed, (cases 1–3), the air zone temper-
 Electricity consumed by the fans. ature drops at a slower rate after the heating is shut-off. This is ex-

Fig. 7. Diagram of building simulation in the TRNSYS environment.

860 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866

Fig. 8. Typical variation of the backside temperature of the highest PV panels during the heating season and electricity production for case 3.

Fig. 9. Effect of three different modes of installation of the BIPV panels to the variation of Zone 3.1 temperature during the winter season.

plained by the additional insulation layer introduced by the PV
panels and the air space in-between. It is known that for a single
air space, the minimum heat conductance is typically reached with
an air space of 0.6–2.0 cm. Once the boundary layer regime has
been reached, further increase in air space thickness results to little
or no decrease in conductance as mentioned in [36].
One can observe that in all three cases with a PV façade, the
zone temperature without heating is about the same. That is, the
existence of the air duct with air flowing in it, does not significantly
affect the building shell losses. This can be explained because of
the high insulation placed on the inside of the duct.
Fig. 10 gives some insight in the behavior of the system during
the cooling season (the hottest week of the summer). A comparison
of the predicted backside panel temperature in the highest section
of the duct, that is, behind the top PV module (3rd floor) for the
four cases is presented. The predicted electricity generation from
the PV panels (case 3) is also presented in the same figure. Again,
the PV backside temperature is significantly reduced between case
 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866 861

Fig. 10. Typical variation of the backside temperature of the highest PV panels and electricity production during the cooling season (case 3).

Fig. 11. Variation of the monthly heating load of the building.

1 (not cooled) and case 2 (highest flowrate). As regards case 3, with
the limited flowrate, its cooling effect is significantly reduced
whenever the ambient temperature levels exceed 40 °C. Obviously,
the cooling effect significantly improves the PV panels’ efficiency
during the summer, especially with the higher flowrates of case 2.
As regards the zone temperatures, the same observations apply
as with the heating season. The additional insulating effect of the
double façade is favourable to the building’s thermal behavior.
Moreover, the existence of the vertical ducts behind the PV panels
in cases 2 and 3, allows for alternative night cooling strategies that
can significantly reduce the cooling energy requirements of the
building.
The overall effect on the heating and cooling loads is compara-
tively presented for the four cases in Figs. 11 and 12 respectively.
The installation of PV modules slightly reduces the heating load
for cases 1–3 compared to the reference case. On the one hand, the
PV panels and air layer offer extra insulation, but on the other side
the same panels obstruct solar radiation (solar gains). In case 2 the
heating load is increased, presumably due to the forced introduc-
tion of a higher flowrate of cold outdoor air in the vertical ducts be-
tween PV panels and buildings walls. This air flow cools the
external wall.
The effect on the cooling load of the building is also of interest.
The cooling load in case 1 and case 2 increases about 5% and 4%,
respectively, compared to the reference building. In case 3 the in-
crease is 4.5%. This should be attributed to the convection from the
air flow in the ducts behind the PV panels [37]. But there exist also
opportunities to gain from the process. During the day, the outdoor
862 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866

Fig. 12. Variation of the monthly cooling load of the building.

Fig. 13. Monthly electricity production from the PV panel arrays.

air driven through the ducts is heated to high temperatures and its
enthalpy could be exploited for producing domestic hot water by
means of a tank-type air-to-water heat exchanger or an air source
heat pump water heater. The existence of the vertical ducts may be
also exploited for night cooling of the building when the outside air
temperature is lower than the inside air temperature.
5.2. Comparative building energy simulation results
An overall PV electricity production balance is presented in
Fig. 13. The results of this figure indicate that the air flow behind
the PV panels certainly improves the electricity production during
the summer months, because in summer the backside tempera-
tures of the panels are high and the air flow significantly cools
the panels (see Fig. 13).
For case 3 the yearly electricity production is predicted to be
1.5% higher than case 1 (not cooled PV panels). For case 2, which
has an improved cooling effect, the electricity produced is 3% high-
er than the base case 1 [6]. According to these calculations, it may
be necessary to increase (say, double) the duct air flow rates during
the summer, to improve the cooling of the PV panels. This problem
is due to the increased ambient temperature during the summer
period in low latitude countries, which limits the PV cooling poten-
tial by ambient air that is already at 40 °C or even higher.
The monthly energy balances for case 3, including electricity, air
enthalpy gains in the duct, heating and cooling loads, are presented
 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866 863

Fig. 14. Monthly energy balances for case 3 (electrical vs. thermal kW h).

Fig. 15. Monthly variation of maximum exit air temperature.

in Fig. 14. During the heating season, according to the overall com-
putation balances, the ventilation air heated in the duct can supply
as much as 22% of the total heating load (1800 kW h out of the total
heating load of 8400 kW h).
The monthly cooling load, also shown in this figure, is high, be-
cause the south-facing walls of the building are not shaded (shad-
ing coefficients for the opaque and transparent surfaces of the
building are assumed to be equal to 1) and the internal gains of
the office building are significant (occupants-lights-equipment).
During the summer, the electricity production exceeds the fan
electricity consumption. Also, a significant air enthalpy increase
of 3300 kW h is calculated. The ventilation of the rooms during
summer is effected by direct outdoor air, bypassing the duct at
each level. The hot air produced from the duct during the summer
would be a good candidate for production of space cooling. The ex-
pected efficiency in this case would be low (a COP less than 0.2 is
estimated, although Mei et al. report on a desiccant cooling ma-
chine, installed in the Mataro Library, with a COP of 0.518 [38]).
Florides et al. describes the advantages and disadvantages of low
energy cooling techniques [39]. Unfortunately, due to the small
size and height of the system, the air temperature does not exceed
60 °C (Fig. 15). A workable approach would be to employ the hot
864 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866

Fig. 16. Monthly energy balance for winter season.

Table 6 Table 7
Energy consumption and energy use for the three alternative cases. Building rating categories.

Reference Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Rating Limits

kW kW h/ kW h/ kW h/
A+ EP 6 0.50RR
h/m2 y m2 y m2 y m2 y
A 0.33RR < EP 6 0.50RR
Heating 13.87 12.79 12.99 12.89 B+ 0.50RR < EP 6 0.75RR
Cooling 45.04 47.31 46.98 47.14 B 0.75RR < EP 6 1.00RR
Lighting 48.07 48.07 48.07 48.07 C 1.00RR < EP 6 1.41RR
Electricity production 11.15 11.47 11.31
Heat from air stream 5.23
Sum 106.98 97.02 96.56 91.55
Energy need and the temperature difference between 40 °C (maximum air sup-
Oil (heating) 13.87 12.79 12.99 7.66
ply temperature) and 21 °C (return duct air temperature). This re-
Electricity (cooling, lighting) 93.11 84.23 83.57 83.89
sults to a total air flow of about 9000 m3/h for the winter season.
Final energy (included System losses)
Thus, the outdoor air represents 18% of the total air supply of the
Oil (heating) 15.26 14.07 14.29 8.43
Electricity (cooling, lighting) 93.11 84.23 83.57 83.89 HVAC equipment in winter. The outdoor air is preheated in the
ducts behind the PV modules. The maximum outlet temperature
Primary Energy
Oil (heating) 16.79 15.48 15.72 9.27 for January is 33 °C (see Fig. 15). Thus, for January, which is the
Electricity (cooling, lighting) 270.01 244.28 242.37 243.28 coldest month of the year, the energy saving is about 12%
(410 kW h). During the months November and April, 100% of the
heating loads are covered by the air heated in the duct.
air produced from the duct during the summer, to produce domes- The monthly energy balance for the winter season is presented
tic hot water, by using an air-to-water heat exchanger. in Fig. 16. The total energy saving is about 21% [40].
The optimization problem should also take into account the The economic viability of the specific BIPVT concept could be
electricity consumption of the fans. It must be kept in mind that enhanced if one takes into account the increase in energy rating
the fans are working to cover the ventilation needs of the building of the building, due to the incorporation of the BIPVT system. To
during the working hours. They are working at a varying capacity, assess this effect, the primary energy consumption for heating,
according to the building’s ventilation needs, including night cool- cooling and lighting, as calculated according to the methodology
ing in the summer. The exploitation of buoyancy effects saves a lot of EN 13790 is presented in Table 6. The primary energy conversion
of electricity consumption for the fans. It can be seen that during factors to transform oil and electricity consumption were selected
the year the fan consumption (see Fig. 14) is always lower than as 1.1 and 2.9 respectively [41].
the electricity production. From the above table we see that in terms of primary energy
consumption, a fuel saving of about 45% and an electricity saving
5.3. HVAC system design implications (case 3) of 10% can be effected. Thus, if we install a total of 70 m2 of PV
modules in the building, we can move half way towards the next
The HVAC system must meet a sensible heating load of 58 kW. class (that is, B+) (see Table 7) in the grading scheme of the build-
As regards the necessary outdoor air, this is calculated to 1640 m3/ ing’s energy certificate [42].
h based on the minimum requirements of prEN 15251) [34]. Out of The yearly electrical efficiency with respect to the incident
this quantity, about 880 m3/h are preheated in the ducts behind radiation for the heating season is predicted to be 10.5% and the
the PV arrays during the heating season. The sizing of the supply thermal efficiency 11%, respectively, provided that all the hot air
air duct is based on the above-mentioned sensible heating load is exploited in space heating in winter and hot water in the sum-
 O. Zogou, H. Stapountzis / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 853–866
mer. If we focus only on the hot air exploited in space heating dur-
ing winter, the system’s thermal efficiency drops to 3.5%. Of course,
there exist hidden additional winter gains due to the heating of the
south-facing walls of the building. Study and optimization of the
overall system efficiency with respect to the thermal inertia of
the walls and the type and placement of the insulation is a
demanding task for the HVAC research engineer.
The above results are in agreement with Charalambous et al.
[24], Tiwari et al. [17] and Chow et al. [43] which report on stan-
dard types of by PV/T collectors, and with Agrawal and Tiwari
[23] reporting on a rooftop BIPV/T collector.
We can further increase system’s efficiency during winter, if we
utilize the warm air in the ducts during the hours and days when
the HVAC is off, to maintain the inside air temperature of certain
building zones at acceptable levels and reduce the Monday morn-
ing startup loads.
During the summer season, in order to make the system more
productive, we can employ the air ducts for night ventilation to de-
crease the indoor temperature levels. An initial economic analysis
can be based on the computed system’s energy performance data.
Finally, the PV installation costs could be reduced by introducing a
standardized system of fitting the PV arrays in a pre-fabricated
frame, as applied today in the case of expensive ceramic tiles.
The results of the computations point to the fact that experi-
mental data in real world operating conditions, steady state and
transient, are very important to support the design optimization
of the specific concept and layout. Tests with a module of the type
studied in this paper are under way. Their results are to be pre-
sented in a subsequent paper.
6. Conclusions
 A new concept of integrating PV modules on the south-facing
walls of an office building is studied by means of TRNSYS build-
ing energy simulation.
 An air gap between the backside of the modules and the wall is
employed for circulating outdoor air to cool the modules and
thus keep their efficiency at high levels. At the same time, the
outdoor air heated by the modules in the duct is exploited by
the HVAC system to save heating energy during winter and pro-
duce hot water during the summer.
 The overall effect on the energy performance of the modules is
studied by means of the electricity produced by the PV panels,
the heating energy gains and their overall effects on the energy
rating of the building.
 The results indicate that optimal sizing of the PV panels and
optimal design of the duct system is essential to the economic
viability of incorporating PV panels. Additional exploitation of
the duct system for night cooling strategies in the summer is
also essential for its economic viability.
 The results of this study show that the selection of flowrate and
duct dimensions are critical to the performance of the PV faç-
ade. Also, different design versions must be adapted to different
climatic conditions and orientation of the building.
 The contribution of the proposed double PV façade could
become significant only whenever the building heating (and
cooling) loads are first minimized by means of an adequate insu-
lation and shading, as well as an energy efficient ventilation sys-
tem design. That is, only an energy efficient building of a high
energy rating can profit by such a double PV façade concept.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their thanks to KYOCERA SO-
LAR EUROPE s.r.o. for supplying free of charge the PV panels em-
865
ployed in their investigations. Special thanks are due to Dr.
Georgios Georgiadis, Research & Development Dept. Manager,
KYOCERA SOLAR EUROPE, for his useful remarks and hints support-
ing our research work.
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