The national energy system is undergoing a profound transformation, led by European and national policies, aiming to combat climate change and to relaunch the economy after the crisis caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic. In light of this, the conditions are optimal for the revival of the Italian photovoltaic
industry.
Large initial investments are required for access to the utility-scale photovoltaic market (with minimum
production capacity of hundreds of MWp). This places margins at the limits of sustainability. Developing an
integrated photovoltaic market in the construction sector (IIPV, Infrastructure-Integrated PhotoVoltaic) is
dominated by factors other than production volumes and costs per unit of peak power. Instead, in the case of integrated photovoltaics in buildings (BIPV, Building-Integrated PhotoVoltaic), the specifications dictated by the structural, functional and aesthetic integration of the modules are of higher importance, while the cost is measured per unit of surface area and not per unit of installed power.
It is expected that an increasingly large slice of the Italian BIPV market will be focused on façades, relevant to the widely-used multi-storey buildings such as condominiums. Here the space on the roof is insufficient with respect to the energy demand of the building inhabitants, considering that the regulatory environment is pushing towards concepts that go beyond NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building), requiring positive energy balances at the building and/or district level.
The main focus of this project is to develop a class of photovoltaic modules and systems based on
mass-customization concepts. These systems will be adaptable to a wide range of projects involving the
construction, maintenance or renovation of façades of multi-storey buildings.